Diplomacy of a Murder
by Trinxy
Summary: A man lies in the puddle of his own blood, 23 bullet holes in the chest, leaving Castle and Beckett wondering what happened to him. Who was his killer? Why he was killed? Castle-esque murder mystery with romance on the side, set after Pandora/Linchpin in season 4. Co-written with Krackenback. Now complete.
1. Chapter 1

**This fiction started as a challenge from my friend from CastleTV chatroom. He was telling me that I could write everything and I was disagreeing with him. So, he challenged me to write a case based fiction. I agreed to write, only if he would co-write it with me. So. The thought became reality, when we started writing it.**

**This is co-written with my friend Brett (his penname: Krakenback). He is the most awesome co-writer ever. He has a witty sense of humour that has helped to keep me up and running and oh boy, he can come up with some neat stuff. I can't wait you guys to see what his wicked mind has come up with. Hopefully soon enough! Thank you, Brett, for being my partner in crime.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing from Castle belongs to us. Well. Only the victim and the story of how he died.**

**Setting: The actions of the fic takes place after the Pandora/Linchpin episodes.**

* * *

It was a good day for Kalev - his first as an Consulate General in the United Nations. The former representative of Estonia had decided to retire, so the younger, more ambitious man now had the chance to prove himself on the international stage. He was pretty happy with how the day had turned out. Everyone welcomed the newest member of the United Nations family with warm words. He felt like he had accomplished a lot in one day, making connections and maybe even some new friends. He smiled at that thought. Yes, it was a good day.

He stepped away from the United Nations Secretariat building, heading slowly to his car across the street, where the driver was waiting for him as they had agreed. He took his time to make his way there. It was a really beautiful day in New York, so he decided to enjoy it. The colder spring weather was in the past and the nice warm breeze declared that it was May - a month closer to the crazy summer weather. He smiled. Yes, indeed. It was a nice day to start working in the great city of New York. He had dreamed of working in this city for quite some time in his childhood. The Big Apple had made a huge impression on him when he had visited it for the first time, years ago. He knew he would be back there one day. And he'd been right. He could permanently work there now, with no fear of going back.

He smiled to the people passing by. He was just happy. When he saw a familiar face closing in, his happiness level rose even more.

"Kalev!" The man cheered. He stopped in his tracks and waited for said man to come closer.

"Alfred!" He greeted back.

"How are you?" He asked the dark man and extended out his arm. Alfred did the same. His grip was firm, painful even and Kalev winced for a moment.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Alfred apologized, realizing the strength of his grip. He let Kalev's hand go.

"Ah, that's alright," Kalev smiled. Nothing could ruin his mood today.

"I have been alright, doing stuff around the city," he elaborated. "How about you? First day around these grounds?" he asked, waving a hand towards the great UN Secretariat building behind the blonde man.

"I am excellent," he beamed. "First day went really well."

"I am glad to hear that," Alfred responded, then promptly looked down at his watch. "Oh, I wish I had more time to catch up, but right now, I am late for a meeting, catch you some other time?"

"Oh well, of course," Kalev nodded. "Some other time. Have a good day!"

"Goodbye!" the darker man waved to him and set his steps to the building ahead.

_Well, that was weird,_the Estonian thought. Randomly bumping into Alfred didn't happen every day... _Oh well_, he shrugged. He wasn't about to let an odd occurrence let his mood down. He continued his way to the car. Every step he took, it felt like sun was getting warmer. No wonder. They said a heat wave was coming around.

He waved to John, his driver who was leaning against the side of the car patiently, and continued crossing the street. It took a while to finally get there; the last steps felt particularly unbearable as the weather seemed to worsen, going from hot to sweltering and breathing hard in a matter of minutes. He basically jumped into the car and asked John to crank up the air conditioning. The driver smiled at his boss and turned on the AC as they took off from the parking spot.

The car slowly made its way into the Midtown traffic. It was the high of the day and the weather caused a lot of traffic jams. A black motorcycle pulled up right next to the car carrying a biker dressed all in black. The driver glanced at the biker for a moment but paid little attention to him.

Suddenly, the motorcyclist pulled out a semi-automatic handgun with a silencer attached and pointed right at the back passenger seat, where the brand new consulate general of Estonia sat. The air was full of bullets in a second. They flew everywhere and John ducked to the floor. It felt like forever, the rain of bullets. Finally it stopped. The driver didn't dare to move at first. His heart beat frantically and fear paralyzed his limbs, but finally he gathered the courage and raised his head. He glanced to the back of the car, where his employer was.

Consulate general Kalev Järvesoo was lying dead in his own puddle of blood, around twenty bullet holes in the chest.

* * *

"Castle!" Beckett hisses through her teeth. "Stop fidgeting. You are making me nervous."

"I gotta pee," Castle says honestly, doing a little dance with his feet in the passenger seat. She glances at him, annoyance in her eyes.

"You should have gone to the men's room when we were in the precinct," she huffs.

"Well, I didn't need to go then," he shoots back, his mouth pouty.

The car falls into silence for a short while.

"Can you pull over?" He asks again. "I really need to go."

She makes a sound of frustration and pulls over to the side of the street. He immediately opens the door and darts out, heading to the nearest coffee shop. She is annoyed but seeing him run makes her chuckle a bit. She shakes her head. _This man is making me go crazy,_she sits there for few good minutes, hoping he'll return soon. But of course the man takes his time. The minutes fly by and he still isn't coming out of the Café Reneé.

They were already going to be late to the crime scene. And he still _had_ to do stuff that wasted their precious time. It was annoying. Her phone rings in her lap and she picks it up. "Beckett," she barks to her phone.

"Hey, where the hell are you_,"_the voice of Esposito comes through the speaker.

"We are halfway there," she answers. "Castle decided that he had to go to pee."

"What_?"_Esposito laughs _"_You mean, he is out of the car, pissing against a tree like a dog_?"_

She snorts. "No. He went into a coffee shop. I am still waiting for him."

At that moment she sees Castle exiting the little coffee store with two coffees in one hand and pastries in the other. She sighs, rolling her eyes. Of course. She should have known. That's why it took so much time for him to get out of that shop.

"I gotta go," she growls. "Castle is coming, we'll be there in 5." She ends the call and watches him walk back to the car.

"I brought you coffee., he cheers when he opens the door, smiling from ear to ear.

"Come on, get in the car, we need to be there as fast as we can," she snaps at him. He extends his arm with coffee in his hand, a smile still plastered to his face.

"Castle, not now!" she hisses again, pushing back the coffee tray. "We need to be at the crime scene ASAP. Esposito called already. It's a high profile investigation, we can't mess it up."

"Okay, easy," he says, his face dropping a bit. "Why are you so cranky today?"

"Because you are annoying," she says, trying to calm herself down.

"This is old news," he tries to joke.

"You know what, enough," she snaps. "Just be quiet until we get to the crime scene. Or I am not calling you to the next case."

"But I... " he starts to argue.

"Enough!" She shuts his mouth and starts the car. "Not a word."

"But..." he tries again, tangling the bearclaw in front of her.

"Castle..." she warns, her voice low.

"Okay, okay," he resigns, pouting in the passenger seat while sipping the coffee and biting the pastry with a gloomy face. "You are mean," he mutters under his breath.

* * *

Beckett jumps out of the car impatiently eyeing Esposito and Ryan standing over the black limo. As she strides over to the boys, they look up grinning impishly at her. Castle follows close behind.

"So... held up a bit?" Esposito asks, a smile covering his face.

Beckett sends a glare from Esposito to Castle and snatches the coffee, which he still holds. Castle for his part, tries to look contrite, but a grin sneaks out anyway. Beckett holds his eyes for a moment and rolls her own.

"What do we have guys?" she asks, stepping closer to Esposito and sipping her coffee.

His manner instantly turns serious. "This is going to be messy," he stresses. "Our victim is the new Consulate General to Estonia, mid-thirties, his name being Kalev... umm.. well damn. Can you pronounce that Ryan?"

Ryan looks over Esposito's shoulder at the victim's wallet, sharing a similar confused expression. Castle smiles and says, "Mind if I have a go?"

Ryan and Esposito look at each other, shrug, and pass the wallet to Castle, himself confident in his wordsmith abilities.

"Jaaar-vee-sooh?" he rolls out the name in a terrible fake accent. Beckett inwardly smiles at Castle, secretly amused in his attempted humour. She remembers that she is still mad at him, straightens her face and turns her attention to the victim. She looks around the bullet ridden door to the single occupant lying in the backseat, blood covering most of the rear compartment.

"Jeez. This looks like a war zone. How many bullets you reckon there were?" She wonders out loud. She had seen her fair share of dead and decapitated bodies, but this seemed particularly savage. Not a single shot, but a hail of projectiles making him nearly unrecognizable.

"We are thinking twenty, going by the bullet holes in the door" Ryan replies.

As the detectives converse with each other, Castle inches closer to the car, admiring the door riddled with bullet holes. He sees the body inside. It really is gruesome. Silence embraces the crime scene for a moment.

"Somebody really hated him," Castle offers his insight, ruining the silent state of the surroundings.

The boys turn their faces and glare at him, annoyed. So does Beckett, raising her eyebrow.

He notices the three looks and asks, "What? A... umm.. twenty bullets for one person is an expensive killing," he explains. "Somebody wanted him dead really, really badly."

"This is helping us how?" Beckett asks, incredulity barely covering the amusement on her face.

Before Castle can say anything, Lanie makes herself noticeable. "23 GSWs in victim's chest, arms and head. I think we can safely assume the cause of death." She steps out of the car. "I need to take him back to the morgue..." She glances back inside. "...well, what's left of him at least."

"Any more details?" Beckett asks the ME.

"As far as I can tell, we couldn't find anything else from his body that would suggest something different. I'm off now, see you later, girl."

Beckett steps closer to observe the body and sighs. This really is one gruesome murder. She squats down near to the driver's side door, knees cracking. Her eyes are intent and searching for any clues. Her hand slides over the black marks on the asphalt.

"Ryan," she calls out.

"Yes," he shuffles closer.

"Do you think we could get a print off these tire tracks?" she asks.

"Let's find out," is the only answer she gets before the detective turns around and heads to talk to the uniforms.

She stands up, making her way around the car, looking for any clues with Castle right behind her. She opens the door from the other side of the car, trying to find any clues of what happened. She slides her glance over the bloody seats and floor when she notices a little piece of paper. She extends her arm to reach for it and snaps it from place with her gloved hand.

"Would you look at that," Castle breathes out as she raises the piece of paper to the eye level.

* * *

**We would appreciate to know how you feel about this fiction. Please share your thoughts – like it, hate it?**


	2. Chapter 2

Beckett holds the little piece of paper between her fingers, turning it around and observing it. It is tiny, barely the size of a matchbox, but it has some kind of a writing on it.

"What is it?" She hears Castle asking from behind her.

"I don't know," she says and gets up, turning herself around to face her partner. "It seems like a scrap from some kind of letter," she continues, not taking eyes off the paper. "See," she points.

He can clearly read:

'_192.168.19_

_kiis'_

The paper is torn in half, so whatever the note was, it should have another half lying around somewhere. Castle takes the paper from Beckett's hands and examines it himself.

"Hmmm," he hums in confusion.

She lets him play with the paper for a few minutes, in the hope that he can shed some light on it, but no luck, his face stays blank. She takes the note from him, intending to give it to CSU, then walks away from the car. For a moment Castle contemplates going after her or staying near the car. But his curiosity gets the best of him and he inches closer to the bullet-ridden vehicle.

The body is still there in all its gruesome glory. There is so much blood everywhere. He feels his breakfast coming up, threatening to greet the world. He closes his eyes for a second and wills himself not care about the body and then opens them again. He slides his glance over the bloody seats, trying to spot the other half of the paper. But there's nothing. He takes another step towards the front of the car.

"Castle!" he hears a sharp voice from further away. He freezes on the spot. Beckett has spotted him poking around. He turns and looks at her apologetically.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

"I ...am.. um.." he tries to think of a quick answer, but fails.

"Come on, we don't have the time to spend here," she hurries him. "CSU can handle the details, we need to talk to the eyewitnesses."

"Coming, already coming," he huffs out, making his way to her. She waits for him patiently and when he reaches her side, they head in the direction of the cars across the street.

* * *

Back at the precinct, Kate's attention is on the murder board, her focus on the victim. Well, it should be on the victim, but she is all too aware of the presence of Castle, who has just walked behind her to glance at the board. He is a distraction that she isn't sure she needs at the moment. She turns and glares as he rattles off a question. Could she really do without him? He looks back confused.

"Kate. You OK?" The question snaps her out of her reverie. Embarrassingly she realised that the glare had lasted a good ten seconds and she didn't even hear the question.

"Umm.. yeah fine... Why do you ask?" She asks, trying to save face.

A smirk starts to emanate from Castle's face. "Well you looked sort of lost there for a minute. My good looks too much for you?"

"Yeah right," Kate fires back. "So, a diplomat dies in a bullet storm in New York City. Sorry what was the question again?" She tries to steer the conversation to more familiar and comfortable territory.

"What do we know about the victim?"

"Think I can help with that," Esposito pipes from across the bullpen. Both he and Ryan stride over to the murder board.

"Our victim, as Castle pronounced earlier, is one 'Kalev Järvesoo' a diplomat newly appointed to to the Estonian consulate here in New York. Early thirties, single, and his country has a house on 34th." Esposito looks over to Ryan who continues the story.

"Our good diplomat was killed with what looks to be a .40 caliber. CSU just sent preliminary results through now." Ryan looks over the photo pinned to the murder board in front of them and grimaces. "Man, he had no chance." He looks back down to his notes.

"The driver states that he only had a quick look at the motorcycle, and the rider." Esposito continues. "He hit the floor like real quick. Can't blame him really. Could only give a very basic description."

"So why would a diplomat, from a neutral country, have an enemy fierce enough to gun him down in rush hour traffic? It has to be more than simple politics," Kate ponders, as finally her attention on the case at hand focuses.

"I think I know what has transpired," Castle interjects, a mock serious expression painted on his face.

Kate turns slowly and looks at Castle, one eyebrow raised.

"Castle, if you even mention a CIA plot, or time travelling robots, I am going to shoot you where you stand," she says with a serious face.

"Hey, hey... Let's hear what he has," Esposito quips with a smile, arms folded over his chest.

"Yeah, lets hear the theory," Ryan, with an even bigger smile, directs at Beckett.

Kate resigned to the inevitable, rolls her eyes, and waves Castle on. It was always the weakness of the boys - Castle could always paralyse them with a good story.

Castle hunches his shoulders, leans back on the desk and launches into his version of events. "Our newly appointed diplomat is an ambitious man, who rises to the top of his field, unaware and unashamed of the dignitaries he has trampled to get to his position. He views his predecessor as weak, and leaves no stone unturned in his quest for ultimate power. The former consulate general feels slighted. He has cold war contacts he keeps in touch with, cold-blooded killers who could return the many favours he has handed out of his tenure."

Castle is now warming up to his task. Kate glances over to Esposito and Ryan, both thoroughly engaged in the story. She sighs, and returns her attention to Castle, who continues on.

"So our consulate general has his information that he is to be replaced. A quiet word in the right place could solve this humiliation right here. No one could tie it back to him. There is little chance he could get caught. These guys are professionals. After the shock of the assassination, he could quietly step in, offer to take control until matters settle down, knowing full well that a replacement would be months, maybe even a couple of years away. Then our good consulate general quietly retires on his own terms, peacefully settling down at his Mediterranean villa."

"Great theory Castle," Esposito states. Castle smiles back and turns to Beckett, ready for her opinion. She looks unimpressed. "Just one problem though," Esposito continues on, a wry look creeping over his face. Castle's expression freezes, his crest falls slightly. He peeks back at Esposito.

"And what would that be?" Castle asks, knowing that there is a high chance the bubble is about to burst.

"Well the former consulate general, as it turns out, was unwell, and virtually begged his government to let him retire, according the consulate. He was only there as long as he was because they couldn't find a ready-made replacement quickly." Esposito looks over to his partner sand shrugs.

Castle looks down at the ground, but then grins. "It would be hell of a story though, right?"

"Oh yeah, totally. It was working Castle." Ryan offers him some consolation.

Kate herself tries to keep a straight face, and fails in the attempt. "Anymore brilliant theories Castle?" She was going to enjoy this small victory.

Castle, not to be denied, answers back, "I've got a least a dozen. Want to hear them all?"

Ryan, hearing this, bursts out laughing. "Good answer, Castle."

The two trade a fist pump, knowing that Castle isn't losing this battle anytime soon.

Kate thinks to herself '_Don't let him get to you. This is what he wants.'_She takes a deep breath and raises her voice to all three. "Back to the real world guys. Esposito, what do we have on the weapon itself?"

Esposito offers an answer, "I'm thinking a semi-automatic pistol, and a powerful one at that. Think about it. He would have to conceal the weapon, but have enough power to bust through a car door and kill a guy."

Ryan looks down at his notes, "Uniforms have canvassed the area, and report that witnesses saw a black motorcycle pull up next to the victim, kitted out in black, fire through the windows and door, and speed off. No one saw his face, or could get a rego. Seemed to be all too quick."

Kate muses over this information, "This really is a professional hit, isn't it?" They are all interrupted by Beckett's phone, breaking the tension of the foursome.

Kate picks her phone, and notes to the rest of them, "It's Lanie." She tucks her long auburn hair back behind her ear and asks "Hey Lanie. What have you got?" She falls silent for a minute, confusion slowly setting in her expression. "Uh huh. OK. We will be down shortly." She drops the phone back to the desk, and looks back to her crew. They are expectantly waiting for Lanie's details.

"...Well?" Castle's curiosity gets the better of him, his patience the shortest. "What did she say?"

"Lanie just says to head down there. She said that she has something for us." Kate herself seems a little nonplussed, the cause of death she thought would just be a formality. She grabs her jacket from her chair, and turns to head out of the bullpen. Castle quickly reaches for his jacket, and prepares to follow his muse, excitement written on his face at the possibility of a quirk in the investigation.

Ryan interrupts, "Hey Castle? All set for tonight? Jenny says the dress code is smart casual. It will be a fun dinner for the four of us."

Kate freezes mid-stride, her attention snaps back to Castle. She stops and turns her around to observe the detective and the writer. Neither of them notice her at the moment. She feels awkward, listening in on the private conversation of her partner. But she can't do nothing. Her interest is peaked and her heart has picked up the quickened pace. '_Tonight?'_she thinks to herself. '_What the hell is going on? Castle and Ryan are going out somewhere?'_

She doesn't hear Castle responding but she catches Ryan saying, "I am glad then, Emily is waiting to meet you in person. She is very sweet."

'_Who the hell is Emily?'_she thinks but then notices Castle smiling at Ryan and answering, "I'm looking forward to it too. But now, I have to catch Beckett. She is probably halfway down." Ryan nods and Castle starts stepping towards the elevator, assuming Beckett is there already.

He stops in his tracks when he sees Beckett standing in the far end of hallway, eyeing him intently.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all those people who read our story's first chapter. Delighted to see that people are interested in it and want to see where this goes. I hope you enjoy the ride with us to the end. It will be interesting! Thank you!**

**Brett & Trinxy**


	3. Chapter 3

Castle takes a few steps closer and stops in front of her. She has her mouth slightly open still in shock, but she tries to mask it very quickly. She closes her mouth then and smiles weakly.

"Took your time."

He sees all the spectrum of emotions that fluttered in her face for a moment. He is sure that he spotted a look of jealousy and shock in there before she beautifully masked it with a smile.

"Yeah, well. Got held up," he offers an explanation, not really wanting to reveal his plans with Ryan. He doesn't want her to know about them. Not yet, anyway. _'It's just helping out a friend, that's all'_ he tries to convince himself.

"Shall we go?" he asks, trying to usher them out of the room, to the elevator.

"Mhyes," she answers, voice thoughtful, like she is trying to gnaw through something in her head.

"What's wrong?" he tries to ask nonchalantly when they step into the elevator.

"Who's Emily?"

He is silent for a while and finally asks, "So, you heard?"

"Well, it was hard to miss," she answers honestly, turning her head at him. "Loud voices carry around in the open room very well."

He looks at her for a moment, before answering. She is standing there, biting her lip nervously, even though she is clearly trying to hide it. He smirks inwardly but stays fairly serious.

"Ryan asked me a favour," he starts. She shifts from one foot to another, keeping herself silent and urging him to continue

"Jenny's cousin is coming to visit them." he shares, looking into her eyes to see her reaction. "Ryan has noticed that I haven't been dating, so he and Jenny are trying to hook me up with her cousin. Her name is Emily, apparently. I've heard she is a sweet girl," he nods and smiles dreamily.

"Hmm.." she makes that sound again. "So, you haven't seen her?" she asks, curiosity in her eyes.

"No," he shakes his head. "We have a double date today."

"A date?" Kate is surprised.

_Now _Castle is amused. His eyes were not deceiving him before. Kate Beckett _is_ jealous over his date with this woman. _'Oh, this can be fun,'_he thinks.

"Well, that's what the kids call it these days," he answers, seemingly not affected by her questions. "We are going to a romantic restaurant and the theatre afterwards, so I think it _is_ considered a date."

"Oh," she says, her face serious. Then she smiles at him and pats him to the shoulder. "I hope you have a great time with Ryan and Jenny and..." she pauses. "Emily?" her voice rises to that last name, making it seem like a question.

"Yes, Emily," he answers, amused. "You know, Beckett. If I didn't know you better, I would say that you are a little bit jealous right now," he takes the chance to mock her for a moment. Just to poke around and see what stirs up in her.

She offers a seemingly fake smile to him. "Why would I be jealous, Castle?" she asks, stepping away from him and turning to face the wall. She looks up. "You are a free man, you can date whomever you want," she muses.

Castle looks at her back and smiles a victorious smile. Oh, he's got her for good. _She is so totally jealous._

* * *

Ryan and Esposito slowly pull up to the curb, forty yards short of the address given for the consulate.

"Are you sure this is it?" Esposito asks his partner, inspecting the buildings on either side of the road.

"Yep, thats what is listed. Office 6B, in that ugly office block on the left there,"

Esposito smiles and asks, "You know the best thing about this consulate?" Seeing Ryan's blank face he continues, "The McDonalds across the street. I'm freakin starving. Need lunch." Ryan stares at the golden arches, caught in two thoughts.

"I promised Jenny I wouldn't have take out this week. Deal we have going," Ryan explains apologetically.

Esposito sighs, resigned to be hungry for at least the next couple of hours.

Ryan continues to stare at the store, "I am so getting a Mac. What you having, Javi?"

Spontaneous laughter erupts between the two, as they exit the car and head to McDonald's for a quick snack. Ryan is content in the end with a single burger, his partner obviously isn't. A quarter pounder, and two cheeseburgers later, Esposito follows Ryan across the street to find the consulate. They enter the lobby, and the quickly find the information board and verify the address.

"Well it's the right building. Estonian Consulate, 6B," Ryan reads off the board. They both walk over the marble floor to the elevator, push the button, and patiently await its arrival. Another individual also ambles over, and stands close to the detectives, his head bowed down. The man glances at them both, his eyes widening slightly as he spies the badges attached to their belt. Ryan notices this immediately and glances at Esposito, whose interest is also piqued. He appeared to be in his mid forties, short dark hair, and immaculately dressed in a expensive designer suit.

The elevator bell sounds, and the door opens to the three passengers. "Going up?" Esposito steps into the elevator behind Ryan, directing the question to the stranger. The man steps in behind them and answers with a distinctive accent "Yes, floor six please."

The detectives now share a very long look between them, Esposito asking "Estonian?" Their elevator acquaintance nods in the affirmative.

"Know the consulate general?" Ryan politely asks.

The man looks up sadly at both of them, bows his head again, "Yes, I do. He's a great man and will sorely missed around here."

"Err... didn't he only just start his job recently?" Ryan was perplexed by the notion a man, not a week into his job, could be missed so quickly.

Their companion's complexion abruptly takes an angry turn. "Oh not that upstart interloper who stole his job. No, I am talking about the old consulate general, a man of foresight and vision, a stellar representative in his role." He finishes the sentence, pride shining through the last words.

"So, you knew the old consulate general, we gather?" Esposito folds his arms across his chest, suspicion slowly dawning on both detectives.

The man slowly looks up, as the elevator doors open to the sixth floor, "Yes, he was my best friend." He pauses once more, inhales a deep breath, and states, "That is why I had to kill Kalev."

* * *

"Hey Lanie!" Beckett greets the ME when she opens the shiny morgue doors. "What do you got for us?"

"Hey you …" the medical examiner lifts her gaze from the body laying in front of her and smiles when she sees them come in. "... and Castle."

"Hey, Lanie." Castle says, stepping closer to the table. Seeing the body lay there with all the bullet holes, suddenly he is full of glee. He was grossed out in the crime scene, oddly enough. It was probably due to the fact the dead body was still too fresh. Too human like. Now, it looked like a shiny new toy, lying in the table.

"Oooh, I can see insides of him!" he cheers and steps closer and extends his arm.

"Nuuh-uuh, Castle, put your finger in there and I_will_cut it off." the ME stops Castle before he can touch the body with his bare hands. Castle eyes Lanie for few heartbeats, but seeing her strict gaze, he retreats his arm and sighs.

"You are ruining all the fun."

Beckett comes closer to the table, only mildly annoyed about Castle. "What did you find?" she gets right to the point, looking at the ME. "It sounded urgent in the phone."

Lanie smiles to her friend "I called you down because I wanted to show you something."

"Oh?" Kate is surprised.

"Well, as far as I know, the death is caused by the 23 gunshot wounds to his chest, left arm and left side of his head." She shows to the direction of the wounds with her hand, showing the riddled pattern of the bullet holes.

"But..." she continues, but before she can say anything Castle exclaims "He is blue!"

Beckett stares at Castle telling him to shut up without words, using her eyes. Lanie shifts her gaze from Kate to Castle and tries to talk, before Writer-boy interrupts again.

"Yes, he is a bit blue, that's what I am saying. It doesn't add up with the gunshot wounds."

"Why it doesn't?" Beckett asks, her face serious.

"Well, the blue tinge of the skin points to lack of oxygen in the body. But with the gunshot wounds, the shade shouldn't be there yet. I hope that the thorough examination can shed some light to what is going on with this man." Lanie looks at Kate, then Castle.

They nod in unison, both seem to be deep in thought. Beckett is furrowing her brows and tries to think of a reason for this mystery. Before she can say anything Castle interrupts the silence again.

"So you are saying he was suffocated before being shot?" he looks at Lanie, intently.

She looks at him, disapprovingly. "That is not what I am saying, Castle. This early blueness is just a detail that doesn't add up with the overall condition of the body at the moment"

He looks at Lanie, smile in his eyes and points out. "What condition? The guy has been reduced to minced meat"

Now both of the ladies are staring at him. "What?" he asks, looking at Beckett,

"Minced meat or not," Lanie says to him, making both Beckett and Castle look at her. "The guy is a mystery for us. I hope I can have more substantial information to you as soon as I have performed and examination on him." She stops for a moment and then adds "But the reason I called you down, is this."

She reaches for a plastic bag from the little table beside her and raises it up. There is a little piece of paper in there. Beckett takes the little bag from the ME and squints at it. Castle shuffles closer to Beckett, making her uncomfortable. But she doesn't say anything, focusing solely on on the paper.

It is the same kind of paper the other little note had, even the lines in the paper are similar. This paper, like the other one has numbers and letters on it:

'_2.2_

_ukene38'_

"This is the same note we found," Beckett voices her thoughts. "Where did you find it, Lanie?"

"This was on the pocket of his suit. I noticed it when I was cutting him out of it. It was really close to falling out from the tiny pocket."

"Thank you, Lanie." Kate smiles to her friend. Then she gives the plastic bag to Castle who is anxious to see it in his hands. She continues, "We found other half of that paper in the crime scene."

The morgue falls silent for a minute, while Castle is investigating the paper. Kate is shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, glancing at Castle and then Lanie. The medical examiner observes them for a second, noticing the awkward tension between them.

"Well, this is it for now" Lanie tells them both. "I have to cut him open to know more."

Castle makes disgusted face at her words, when he looks at the ME. "You will cut him _more_ open than he is right now?"

Lanie pointedly ignores him and says to Kate. "Keep your shadow on the line. What have you been feeding him today, chocolate?"

Kate laughs at her friend and answers "Oh, then he would be much worse. I assume the giddiness is caused by the fact that he has a date today."

Lanie raises her eyebrows _'Ah, that might explain the tension'._She looks from Castle to Kate and back to Castle. "A date? So, you two decided to go out eventually?" she asks.

Kate manages to keep the straight face that she had before. "No, ah... um." she stutters.

Castle only smirks and helps helps the detective out "I have a date with Jenny's cousin."

Lanie's eyes go big at his words. "Oh, really?" and then looks at her friend who slumped at the side of the table, trying to keep her composure. But Lanie sees her cracking under the surface. She wants to mock the writer more, but seeing her friend in slight distress, she decides it's better not to do that right now. She turns her face to Castle, smiles slightly and says. "I wish you have a good time then, writer boy"

Kate sighs then and turns herself around "See you, Lanie. I need to get going." And starts walking away. Castle remains there for few moments, not understanding the hurry of his partner. His brows furrowed, he stands there until Kate calls him. "Are you gonna stay there or come up to the precinct?"

This gets him going and he hurries after her, catching her pace.

"See you, Lanie!" he throws over his shoulder, before the morgue doors close.

Lanie smirks when she looks at Castle running out of the Morgue doors. "Well, well, well, a date?" she muses in the empty, metallic morgue. "This gonna stir up stuff."

She chuckles when she collects one of her power tools and switches it on.

* * *

**A/N: From Trinx and Brett: Thank you for reading and reviewing, dear readers. We love you for it. Please continue the awesome work you have done since. We are really happy for the 11 reviews we got for two last chapters. And the awesome follows and favourites. We really hope you like this next installment too.**

**Thoughts?**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is almost entirely written by my co-author. He is doing this writing thing for the first time and I might say, he is doing an awesome job with that.**

**Love you all who reviewed and shared their thoughts. Your reviews are insightful and very neat. They help us evolve and be better writers. Thank you guys, you rock!**

***Hug* for lv2bnsb1 who edited the chapter.**

* * *

Ryan and Esposito walk back into the precinct, suspect in tow, noting that the bullpen was quiet, nobody around - so the homicide floor seemed deserted.

"Don't see Beckett yet... or Castle for that matter." Ryan takes a quick glance around the room.

"Not in the break room either. Must be still at the morgue. I think that is where they were heading," Esposito notes to his partner. He turns to the uniformed officer who is also accompanying them, "Take him into interrogation room one, we will take it from there in a minute."

The junior officer, a fresh rookie not long out of the academy, nods his head, and escorts the suspect down the hall.

"Hey Javi, what's the time?" Ryan asks from his partner, stopping him on his tracks.

"Two forty-five. Why do you ask?"

"Oh Jenny is swinging by with her cousin, for the double date around seven or so. Plenty of time. Let's see if we can finish up all this before then," Ryan quips as he strides to his desk, grabs his notepad, ready to interrogate the self-confessed murderer.

Esposito sits down in his own chair, leans back with his hands behind his head, and looks back at his partner. "This doesn't quite ring true, you know."

Ryan stops. "What do you mean?"

"Well the suspect confesses as soon as he realizes we are cops, the consulate staff barely knows him, and look at him? Would you seriously think he could kill a guy? He's too well dressed." The last phrase comes out with a small chuckle.

"Heh yeah. His suit does look good doesn't it?" Ryan chuckles along as well. He notes Esposito is looking back at him, a smile still on his face, but questioning at the same time. Ryan's stands up straight, confusion on his face, "What?"

Esposito pauses for a few seconds, then asks calmly, "What on earth were you thinking inviting Castle out on a double date with Jenny, and her cousin, bro. Didn't you see Beckett's face?"

"Oh she didn't like it?" He starts to shuffle back and forth on his feet, a worried expression on his face, "Well not much I can do about it now. Jenny has been planning this for a couple of weeks. Can't stop the night."

Esposito laughs, jumps up out of his chair, and strolls towards the interrogation room, Ryan close behind him. "Don't be surprised if she busts you down to traffic after that."

"Oh, she won't be that mad, would she?" His brows knot in concern.

Esposito glances at his partner as he opens the interrogation room door, his expression showing he thought Ryan's last comment highly improbable.

The suspect was already seated at the table as the two detectives take their seats opposite him. Ryan studies him for a few seconds, noting the neatly parted hair, impeccably groomed moustache, fitted dark blue suit, expensive cufflinks, and a Rolex to boot, gracing his wrist.

"Italian, eh?" Ryan asks the man across the table.

The suspect looks a little taken aback, and replies, "No, I am Estonian."

"I mean the suit. Looks expensive." Ryan smirks.

"Oh yes. Italian made. Very comfortable." the man replies quietly.

Esposito looks down at his notes, and takes over the questioning, "So Mr... Kask. Peeter Kask. Do I have that right?" The suspect now identified as Peeter nods. "You have been informed of your rights?"

The suspect nods once more.

"So tell me the story. How and why did you kill the new Consulate General? We are both dying to know," Esposito says to the guy with a clear sarcasm in his voice. Both Ryan and Esposito lean forward, arms on the table awaiting the response.

Peeter answers abruptly, "Well I didn't like his manner. I thought he treated his predecessor badly, as well as the other staff, so I took measures."

Ryan and Esposito both look and each other, eyebrows raised. Esposito looks back at Peeter. "That's it?" You killed him because you didn't like him?" The detective was clearly unconvinced. "So... how did you kill him? Walk us through it."

"Well, I stole a bike." he mumbles. Takes a break and appears to be thinking hard. "I pulled up to the car, and I … I shot him through the window...no wait, the door," he comes up with a response.

Ryan pauses for a second to gauge Peeter's answer. "Really? So where did you get the shotgun?"

Peeter is hesitant in his reply, "I bought if from a guy in Queens. Backstreet somewhere."

"Somewhere? You don't remember?" Esposito asks skeptically.

"I can't remember the street name at the moment!" the man is getting nervous.

"And the bike? Where did you hide it?"

"Well, err... I dumped it somewhere east of the park." Peeter is now looking even more uncomfortable. He returns the detectives' gaze, but is unable to hold it for long. They in turn, remain silent.

Ryan finally clears his throat, "Now, why don't you tell us why you are wasting our time? Are you covering for someone else?"

"What do you mean? I did it!" Peeter fights to convince both of them of his guilt.

"Yeah, well there's a problem with that." Esposito leans back on his chair, his hands now clasped at the back of his head. "You didn't do it."

"I did!" Peeter is desperate to play the guilty one. "I uh-"

"It was a handgun!" Esposito raises his voice, silencing the man fast. "You don't know where you ditched the bike. We never found the bike either! If I didn't know better, I would swear you are covering for someone." Esposito spits out.

Peeter's expression turns angry, "Kalev Järvesoo was a pretentious snob. He deserved to die!" He punctuates the last remark by slamming his hands down on the table. "Oh yes. He was all nice and charming to your face, but that backstabbing bastard didn't care who he stepped on to get in his way." His breath was now heavy, his temper barely held in check.

"Who are you covering for? The old consulate general?" Ryan's patience was now starting to wear thin. Both he and Esposito know that this mostly has been a waste of time. Peeter Kask folds his arms across his chest and looks down at the table. He seems prepared to wait them out now.

Another ten minutes of questioning gets them absolutely nowhere.

"Well you didn't do it, Peeter, but you certainly are hiding something." Ryan sighs, looks across to his partner, as they both get up out of their chairs. "Think we'll hold you overnight. Obstruction of justice, wasting police time... Maybe you can tell us the full story in the morning."

The detectives exit the interrogation room with details given to the uniform stationed at the door to deliver Mr. Kask down to the holding cells.

"Phones and financials on the vic?" Ryan asks, walking back to his own desk.

"Yep. You know Beckett is going to ask us, as soon as she shows up anyway. Speaking of which, thought she would be back now." Esposito looks at his watch quizzically.

"They can't be far away." Ryan drops his notebook near the computer, types in his login name, and prepares to shift through the victim's phone records.

"I wonder if she has killed him yet?" Esposito laughs at Ryan's grimace, and settles down to his own computer to begin a financial check.

* * *

Beckett stands nervously in front of the metallic doors of the elevator. She checks her watch and huffs out a breath. Castle looks quizzically at her.

"We shouldn't have stopped at Mary Ann's," she states.

"I was hungry." he explains, smile creeping to his face. "Besides, from what I saw, you weren't complaining either."

"Yeah, well," she shrugs and complains. "We wasted so much time there."

"We'll catch up fast?" he is trying to be helpful and shines a smile to her.

"Ugh... never mind," Kate sighs in annoyed resignation and shifts herself closer to the door.

The elevator door opens with a whisper and they step out of the metal box in unison. Beckett walks quickly to the murder board, Castle not far behind her. Ryan and Esposito, noting their arrival, pick up their own notes and head over as well.

Beckett stares at the mug shot pinned to the board. "So, that's our murderer?"

"Nope. He admitted to it, but he didn't know the details. Covering for someone else, we are guessing. Holding him anyway." Ryan shrugs, and fills Beckett in with the details of the day so far.

"So, you think he is covering for the former boss, guys?" she asks, her eyes fixed to the picture in the board.

"He isn't saying, but I thought we might run down the former ambassador for a chat anyway." Ryan suggests.

Castle interrupts, "Consulate General. The ambassador is in Washington, in most likely a much nicer house."

"OK." Ryan sighs, "If you want to be picky about it, Consulate General."

Beckett pins the note recovered off the corpse, matching it to the existing note found in the car. "And then we have this. Significant?" she looks from Ryan to Esposito and Castle in hope that maybe they can say something about the note.

A commotion by the stairs near the elevator brings the attention of all four.

"I killed my brother!" Two uniformed police officers struggle with a large man, arms flailing, and screaming mostly incomprehensible gibberish. The officers drag their unwilling passenger down the hallway and stop near the detectives. He smelt terrible, and his captors were obviously bothered by it, holding their breath as long as humanly possible. His filthy clothes only added to the bad odor.

The officers turn to Beckett, "Where do you want him?"

"Excuse me? Whose brother did he kill?" All of them were a little taken aback by the sudden appearance of the man, now slumped in both officers arms.

"Well in between his rambling, he claims to have shot his brother, one Kalev Järvesoo. You guys are working that case?" the uniform asks, looking at Beckett.

The detectives and Castle all pause for a few seconds. Beckett closes her eyes and brushes her hair back over her ears and pinches the bridge of her nose. She sighs, "I knew this was going to be a long day."

* * *

**Thoughts? Comments?**


	5. Chapter 5

The suspect looks like he has passed out, his head resting on the interrogation room table, when Beckett and Castle enter the room.

Castle wrinkles his nose and mutters, as they take their seats opposite "Oh, this is going to be pleasant."

"Castle, focus. Let's get the job done," Beckett snaps at him.

"Ok, Ok. Just saying." He turns his attention to the man across the table, "Anything we can get you? Coffee? A breath mint?". The man slowly raises his head, attempting to focus his eyes at the short distance, looking decidedly blue. Castle leans back mildly repulsed, "A bucket perhaps?"

"Castle..." Beckett warns and throws him a dark look, although she is also sharing some of his aversion. "So, your ID card here says your name is Kaido. Is this correct?"

The man rocks slowly back and forth on his seat, his eyes partially closing, and slurringly speaks, "Kaido? That can't be your name. Thish ish my name." With that, he falls forward once more, his head crashing against the table.

Castle taps the table with his fingers and looks to Beckett, "Think it would help if we poured a bucket of cold water of him?"

"Sober him up quicker?" Beckett asks with a smirk looking back at her partner.

"Yeah, that, and maybe get rid of some that god awful smell." Castle says and covers his nose with his hand.

Beckett rolls her eyes and leans over the table, lightly smacking the head of the semi-conscious Kaido. "Hey Kaido! Wake up!" The man once more raises his head, and stares at a point around four feet past her.

"Yeah? That's me. Can I help you?"

Beckett, pronouncing each syllable slowly, asks, "Why did you kill your brother?"

Kaido, swaying on his chair, starts to scratch his armpit. "I don't know man. Because I wanted to?" he answers with drowsy smile on his face. "All I remember is pulling up to the car, ripping out my gun, and ...and firing at him" he raises his arms and starts imitating shooting "Phew, phew, phew!"

Castle's eyes go big, "Whoa. Damn Beckett, he might have actually done it."

"Hold ya horses there, Castle." she thinks to herself that nothing is that easy. "OK Kaido. Go through it with us. Take your time".

"Well, let me see." Kaido snorts, clears his throat and drawls, "My brother, right, he ish a right royal pain in the ass. Always like 'Oh why can't you be like Kalev, Kalev is sho talented, blah, blah, blah.'" The disdain was plainly evident. "Sho, I was tripping out today, and I thought to myshelf, 'Why not just kill him?'". At the last comment he grins stupidly. "So I remember getting this awesome bike, grabbing my gun and..."

Kaido pauses for a few seconds. "And what Kaido?" Beckett is frowning now, as Castle peeks at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Well I shot him." Confusion appears across his face. Castle snaps his head back to the suspect. "Well at least I think I shot him. Yes. Yes. I must have shot him." He nods to himself and smiles once more. "Any chance of a coffee? Seem to eaten something bad I think."

"Yes, of course Kaido. It was the food." Beckett states sarcastically.

Castle once more glances at Kate as she rolls her eyes. He can't suppress his delighted smile.

Beckett notices Castle's smile in the corner of her eye and she turns to him "What?"

"Uhh, nothing. I was just, ah ...thinking when you do... umm never mind." He needs to recover the situation quickly so he changes the topic really fast. "So you are tripping out Kaido? What is the drug you cool guys are doing these days?"

Beckett is still glaring at Castle who is doing a bad job of ignoring her. "_What is going on? He is acting really weird today_…" Her attention is drawn back to Kaido, who is now singing.

"Lucy in the Shky with Diamonds. Lusy in the Sky with Diamonds. Lucy in ...in... " Kaido's eyelids droop down and he slowly falls forward, his head hitting the table once more. He then starts snoring.

"I think he's out for a bit now." Castle bends down to see Kaido's face, which he realized too late, was a mistake. His breath was still god awful. "So, he's coming down from LSD trip," he states.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" the detective asks with surprise on her face.

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? The Beatles?" Castle looks at her with hope she could recognize the reference. She clearly doesn't. He smiles and continues with explanation, "Urban legend has it they write that song about LSD they were using at the time. He started singing it when I asked him about the drugs."

"Ahh, I see. Know this from experience?" Beckett is smirking now, but Castle is quick with his reply.

"Nope. Never needed them or been tempted. That is the start of the walk in the valley of death." He winces as he looks at their snoring companion. "What are we going to do with him?"

"We'll hold him here. At least till he sobers up. LSD though sends you delusional. Who knows if he did it or not?" she muses as they rise from the stools together and head out from the interrogation room in unison.

* * *

"That was … awkward." Castle sighs, leaning back in the sofa.

They are sitting in the break room, after the short time spent with the brother of the victim. Beckett is sitting on the chair and she is looking through the newspaper that had been left on the table. Castle, on the other hand, is sitting on the couch, resting his head against the wall and he is pinching the bridge of his nose.

"The interrogation?" she asks, not lifting the gaze from the newspaper.

Castle nods and hums "Hmhmh."

"If it makes you feel better, this interrogation is somewhere on the top of my weird list too." she says raising her eyes to him for a moment.

Castle snorts out a laughter. "Never had a junkie in your interrogation room?"

She throws a glance at him that says _'Really?'_"I have had junkies there before, but none of the junkies never openly confessed that they killed somebody. Usually they try to deny everything." she says calmly.

"Do you think he actually did it?" Castle asks, suddenly leaning forward, placing his elbows to his knees.

She pretends to think about it for few seconds and sighs out exaggeratedly. "I am pretty sure he didn't do it."

"Really?" Castle is a little bit surprised. "Why not? He seems to have the memories of the shooting." He pauses. "And he seems to have a motive for killing his brother too."

"And what is the motive?" she asks, her voice seemingly bored.

"He really, really hated his brother?" he states, but it comes out like a question.

She smiles and tries to bring him down from his fluffy cloud. "Yea, I don't think he was capable of killing, judging by the state he is in now." She closes the newspaper promptly and stands up. She eyes Castle for a second, takes her cup and walks to the coffee machine. Placing her cup to the holder, she refills it with the hot and steamy beverage. She takes the cup and turns herself around again to look at Castle, who is eyeing her intently.

"Wanna refill?" she asks.

He nods slightly. She smiles again and walks to the table and takes his cup. After refilling it, she walks to the break room couch, where he is sitting. She extends her arm with his cup and he takes it with a slight thank you nod.

"Move" she says after a moment of silence. He chuckles and shifts himself, till there is some room for her to sit.

They lounge there together. Sipping their coffee in unison and enjoying the quiet moment. Esposito and Ryan have gone to the bank to retrieve information about the victim and his financials. Beckett decided that they needed to look over the workers of the Consulate, to see if they had missed something. Since they had spent over an hour on the files, it was mutual consent that they all needed a break. So, there they were, sitting and enjoying their coffee.

After observing the room, she turns herself to face Castle, when she notices that he had just done the same. They sit there, looking at each other, a slight smile on their faces. Just when Castle lowers his cup and opens his mouth to say something, there is a slight knock to the door.

There is a woman standing there uniformed escort just behind her. She has pretty blonde hair and face that has too much make-up. She tentatively steps in and asks "Excuse me, are you Detective Beckett?"

Beckett stands up fast and walks to the girl. "Yes, I am. How can I help you?"

"Are you investigating the murder of Kalev Järvesoo?" she asks, voice shy, almost whispering.

Beckett gets more curious about the mystery woman that stepped inside the room. "Yes, we are investigating his murder. Can we help you?"

She takes few steps further inside the room. "I think I can help you." She pauses for effect. "I think I know who the killer is."

Castle and Beckett stare at her; both have the same kind of confused and surprised faces. They turn to look each other in unison. Castle mouths to the detective, _'What the hell is going on?'_

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all for the awesome reviews! We are really glad that you guys love this story and keep reading it forward. This story is written in advance, so, if you are scared that we are not finishing it – don't be. Brett and I are far ahead and we will certainly finish what we started. And you all are going to love the case & the outcome!**

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	6. Chapter 6

"So, you think your mother killed your boyfriend?" Beckett asks. Her face is the mirror of confusion - her brows are furrowed and she has her pen between her teeth. The soon-to-be-wife of the victim, Stephanie Evans, is sitting in front of Castle and Beckett in the interrogation room. The girl is slightly nervous, she is flipping her phone in her hands, back and forth. Castle is looking at her intently when Beckett tries to understand what the girl is saying.

"Yes. I already told you that," she answers and looks Beckett like she is mentally impaired.

Beckett sighs decides to start again, leaning a bit more closer to the girl, "Why do you think your mother killed your fiancée?"

"Oh, god. You people! Do I have to say it all again?" She throws her arms to the air and she sighs out annoyedly.

Castle chimes in, "Yes, you do need to explain again. I kind of lost the thread in the middle..."

Beckett gives him a pointed look and turns her attention back to the lady. "Please, we do need to get your statement on the record. Can you start at the beginning?"

The fiancée rolls her eyes and she starts again. "Alright, let's go this again. See, Kalev and I, we had been together for two months when he proposed to me. Of course I said yes. He was handsome, funny, and ambitious - all the things you want your perfect husband to be. I loved him. But …" the woman is hesitant to continue again.

"Buut... what?" Castle asks, trying to get the interview rolling faster.

"But, he started acting weird after we agreed on the date of the wedding. He kind of turned into this controlling boyfriend, trying to get all the information about my private life, and all," she shifts uncomfortably in her chair. "Well, I didn't mind it at first, because I thought, you know - when you are marrying somebody, maybe things are supposed to go that way. My whole family is like that. But when my mom came to me and said that I had emptied my trust fund, we found the real reason why he was behaving so strange - he was after my money."

Castle nodded, listening intently to the girl. He was in deep thought when he heard Beckett asking with apparent skepticism, "So, just like that, your mother decided to kill him?"

"No, no, not just like that." Stephanie is trying to make them understand. "We confronted him few days ago, about the money. He had full access to the fund, because I gave it to him a few weeks ago. When my mother started accusing him, he got really defensive. He said that he'd never do it and was disappointed that we thought so badly about him. He made this really beautiful speech about being innocent and loving me... and being a family. We forgave him, me and my mom. He was so sweet." The girl looks up from the table, just like waking from a trance. "But when my mom looked over the bank records, all the traces led back to him. So, my mom got really, really pissed."

The girl takes a pause and a breath of air. Beckett uses the time to ask, "And then what happened, Stephanie?"

"I found out I was pregnant," she reveals the bombshell. Her hand instinctively rests on her belly. "Only few days ago. The baby is probably his." she explains, shrugging.

"Probably?" Castle's eyes go big when he asks it out loud. He looks at Beckett, who mirrors his look of confusion. The woman in front of him is full of contradictions. The both turn their heads back to the girl when she starts speaking again.

"I wasn't sleeping with anyone else at the time!" Stephanie raises her voice. "I was gonna marry the bastard!"

Beckett is thoroughly confused now, she is trying to recap the whole thing in her head. "So, he took your money and left you and the unborn baby? Is that what you are saying?"

"YES!" the woman yells out annoyedly.

"But what has the baby got to do with your mom?" Beckett asks, her face still puzzled.

The girl in front of the detective looks her again like she is mentally impaired. "My mom had another really huge fight with him the other day, because he knocked me up. I was there when they were yelling again. I didn't tell him about the baby at first. So, he heard it from my mom. And he got really angry at both of us. He said that he hated us, 'our retarded family', so he describes." her cheeks now have a tinge of red in them. She seems to be flustered about the situation. But she continues, explaining energetically, "My mom was mad at him that he had the guts to say that to our faces. She was so mad, in fact, that she threatened at least three times to kill him unless he gives our money back and leaves us alone."

"Did he leave you alone?" Beckett asks when the girl finishes her monologue.

"No," the Stephanie answers honestly. "He came back the other day, accusing us."

"Accusing you for what?" Castle asks, shaking his head. The story just gets better and better by the minute.

"For the break in of his apartment. He threw it in my mom's face. He threatened her with violence, if she didn't give some papers back."

"What papers?" Beckett is bewildered.

"I have no idea," she shrugs. "He never said. Even when my mom pulled her gun out, he didn't want to share then either." Beckett signals the girl to continue, when she pauses. "My mom threatened him again. She said that if he didn't leave us alone, she'd kill him in a heartbeat. He left. I didn't see him again. Until I heard the …" the girl trails off and stares the table again.

"But how do you know your mom killed him today?" Castle asks from Stephanie, trying to get the story to fit together.

"I saw her take my brother's bike today, in the morning," she explains calmly. "I thought it was really weird at first, because she usually doesn't like motorcycles, in fact, she hates them. But today she went for it. Just after I heard the news about the shooting, I knew it has to be her. It's got to be her!" she looks to Beckett, trying really hard to make her understand.

Beckett just looks at the girl for a second. There are so many details in the story that are just too weird or don't make any sense. But she has to make a decision on the spot. She exhales out a long and audible breath, and tries to calm the girl down. "Stephanie. Thank you for sharing the information with us. We will look into your story."

Just as Beckett is rising from the chair, the girl grabs her wrist and pointedly says to her, "You have to understand. It. Was. My. Mother!"

Beckett removes Stephanie's hand softly and tries to calm her down again, "We will look into everything you've told us Stephanie, and contact your mother. In the meantime, thank you."

Castle, at her side, stands up as well and offers to the girl, "Can I walk you out?" The girl rises from the chair, nervously biting her lower lip.

"Yeah, thanks." Stephanie nods and Castle ushers her out of the interrogation room.

* * *

The crew once more gathers in front of the murder board, adding the newly surfaced details there, while they are discussing the case. Ryan is only partially paying attention to the rest of them, sneaking a glance at his watch, every minute or so.

"Oh relax, bro. Jenny will be here. Don't fret." His fidgeting doesn't escape Esposito's eye.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Ryan looks at Beckett briefly, then quickly away again.

She catches his quick glance and she stops and studies him. The man seems nervous. He has hands in his pocket and is rocking slowly from foot to foot. He is most definitely avoiding any eye contact with her. '_He's worried about tonight?_' she thinks, surprised. This brings her thoughts to Castle's date for the evening, Emily. Does she really mind that date so much? It's a favor for Ryan. Castle will most likely be his usual charming self, considerate, and entertain his guest. That's it. Nothing to worry about. Emily will be a mad fan, gushing over him, just the sort of behavior that annoys Castle. Nothing will happen anyway. That thought cheers her up just a little.

"Earth to Beckett." Castle breaks her out of the reverie. All three of her partners are looking at her now. Ryan and Esposito with questioning looks, Castle just seems amused. She had been daydreaming and she fights the tinge of red that she can feel rising in her cheeks.

"Yeah sorry, just thinking about the suspects." she says quickly, too quickly for that matter. She isn't sure if the boys are buying her cover or not. Castle especially. Too perceptive for his own good. She needs to change the subject. Fast. Case, lets just talk about the case. Safe zone.

"OK." she starts. "We have the former Consulate General's friend, who didn't know what gun he used. A druggie of a brother who thinks he did it, and a former girlfriend, who thinks her mother arranged it. That sums it up?" she finishes the summary and looks around, waiting for comment.

"Pretty thin, huh?" Castle of course is the first to talk. He pauses and looks over to the board and points to one picture, "OK. First we have the former Consulate general's friend, with high end fashion sense, and the haircut to match. We know the relationship he has with the predecessor?"

Ryan interrupts. "Oh, think I can help there. Talked with the staff earlier. They really don't know him that well, but all agree that one Peeter Kask is the Consulate General's lover. That's the old live one, not the dead one..."

Castle breathes in with a whistle, his eyes widening momentarily. "Well, now we know why he is so emotional about all of it. But it still doesn't make sense. The former Consulate General wanted to retire by all reports. Why would he even worry?" he muses aloud.

"Plus he didn't have a clue about the crime scene itself." Ryan supports his thoughts, nodding. "Espo and I got that thirty seconds into the interview. However, he does know something is up. Just not saying."

Beckett, sitting in her chair and looking up to the board, is now running the motives and possibilities through her mind. "Did you run down the former boss?"

Ryan shuffles around the papers on his hands, looking for something. He answers Beckett's question with lowering the papers to her desk. "He's out of town till the morning. We should have tracked him down by then."

Castle pulls the picture of the brother off the board, and waves it theatrically in front of them. "Suspect number two. The victim's brother, Kaido, who loves drugs, and hates a bath. Lets face it; he could barely walk, let alone ride a motorcycle."

Beckett shrugs, "We will see what his demeanor is like once he sobers up in the morning, Castle. Keep going."

Castle returns Kaido's picture to the board, and writes down the name in there. "And we have suspect number three. A woman scorned both emotionally, and financially, with a homicidal mother … or so we hear."

Beckett, seeing Ryan's and Esposito's questioning looks, updates them on Stephanie's interrogation details. "Kalev's fiancée is pretty sure her mother killed her man. The consulate general had just emptied the girl's trust fund, when she found out she was pregnant. She says Kalev had turned into a low life and her mother had promised to kill him, if he doesn't return the money. Plus, she saw her mother leaving the house with the bike." Beckett pauses for few seconds and adds. "We haven't been able to find Stephanie's mom yet, but the uniforms are on it as we speak."

"Anyone seeing a common theme here?" Castle looks at each of them, beaming. Receiving back nothing but confused faces, he explains, "They all hated Kalev. Peeter thought he was arrogant, his brother couldn't stand him, and both girlfriend and allegedly the mother reckon he is better off dead. It is like they were forming a club."

Esposito adds,"Well by the looks of it, he must have stepped on a lot of toes. Gathering new enemies everyday."

Castle then pulls the split note, now joined off the board. "And then we have this too."

_'kiisukene38'_

"IP address and password, Ryan?" Castle gives the paper to Esposito, who fiddles the two papers in his hands for few seconds and then gives it forward to Ryan.

Ryan nods to Castle, "Yep, but it won't do you any good. It's a private address. We need the computer it runs on, and Kalev wasn't carrying one with him."

"Oh. Thought that scrap would be a case cracker." Castle looks slightly crestfallen. When Ryan extends his arm with the papers, Castle takes them from him and attaches them back to the board.

"Alright, would you guys hunt down the computer then? Maybe his apartment, his work perhaps." Beckett asks the detectives. "And..." She doesn't get out the next thought.

"Kevin?" a new voice emanates across the room. They all turn to look at the duo who has just stepped out of the elevator. Kate's heart freezes. There is a tall girl standing next to Ryan's wife Jenny, her golden brown hair falling in cascades over her shoulder, her features flawless and a small smile playing on her rosy lips.

* * *

**A/N: Dunnn dunnnn dunnnn! Hahaa. Can you please leave reviews, if you like the story? We are trying to make this fic as good as possible, but we can't do it without your help. So, hate it, like it? Go and review!**

**Thank you fooxoo and lv1bnsb for reading over the fiction to make it better. Thank you, dear ones! **


	7. Chapter 7

The woman moves with grace towards the four of them, together with Jenny. Kate anxiously looks for a blemish with Castle's date, Emily. But she finds none. She is perfect creature, standing inches above her shorter relative Jenny. She is wearing a deep blue cocktail dress that hugs her just in the right places. It doesn't compare with the dress Jenny is wearing - light blue dress with small white dots in there. They both look so beautiful. As they near Ryan's desk, Castle's eyes light up in silent awe and a slow smile creeps across his features. He wasn't expecting Emily to be that beautiful. Silently, he makes his way to Ryan's side.

"Hey honey," Jenny steps closer to her husband and plants a kiss to his cheek.

"Hey, sweetheart," Ryan answers as he pulls her to his embrace. Then the couple parts and Jenny looks at Esposito, Castle and then Beckett.

"Hey everybody," she says, waving to them.

They all say 'hi' back to her, including Castle.

"Hey Jenny, long time, no see," the writer initiates the conversation quickly.

"I know," Jenny agrees and winks at him. "It's not my fault," she points out and laughs. Then she turns herself back to her cousin and introducing her to all. "Everybody, this is Emily. She's my cousin, visiting us from Ireland."

"Hello," the tall and beautiful girl waves to everybody. Each and every one of the team nods to her, a greeting.

Jenny steps back to Emily's side and starts introducing the people to her. First, she points at Esposito. "Emily, this is Javier Esposito, he's Kevin's partner."

Esposito puffs up his chest and steps closer to Emily, extending out an arm and shaking hers while saying "Pleased to meet you, Emily."

"Same here," Emily answers back, her voice low and sweet as honey.

Jenny turns her to the female detective and steps few feet closer "And this is Detective Kate Beckett," Jenny continues, introducing Kate to Castle's date. Kate stands up and also extends her arm. Her eyes meet with the girl's and she sees up close how beautiful and relaxed Emily is, her shining blue irises look back at her with intensity and laughter in them.

"Very nice to meet you," Kate says, offering a smile to her.

Emily smiles back and extends her arm too, shaking hers. "Very nice to meet you too. I have heard a lot about you from Jenny and Kevin." she lets out a low, sweet chuckle.

"Oh?" Kate's eyes widen in surprise.

Ryan coughs and tries to save his dignity. "Ah, eh... sometimes we talk about work at home."

Kate laughs genuinely at Ryan and says "Ah, I see."

Emily adds with a soft smile, "Besides, I have read the 'Heat' series several times. It feels like I know you from the books."

Kate forces out a smile to the woman. _I'm not Nikki Heat._ "Well, it's mostly a fiction," she points out.

Before Emily can answer back, Jenny interrupts the two women and finally introduces the last member of the team. "Emily, this is Richard Castle, he is your date for tonight."

Emily shifts her gaze from Beckett to Castle and smiles genuinely at him. Castle responds to her with the same kind of smile as he extends his arm to her. He takes Emily's hand and brings it up to his lips and ever so softly he says, "It is very nice to finally meet you, Emily."

Kate is standing right next to Castle and she is watching his reactions to this new beauty. As she looks to the energy between the two of them, she thinks he seems to be in awe of Emily, completely captivated. Trying not to stare, she lowers her gaze to her desk. But before she does it, she sees his smile as he talks with Emily, the same kind of smile she thought was meant just for her. At that moment, a wave of jealousy starts coursing through her like a tsunami. She can't breathe normally anymore. She needs distance. She needs to be alone. Finally she decides to take few steps back and sit back to her chair. She tries to make her movement as unnoticeable as possible. She doesn't look at the pair, because she doesn't want to know how much Castle adores his date. Not knowing and not looking seems to be the best course action for her at the moment.

She hears Emily breathe in softly and say "It is very nice to meet you too, Mr. Castle."

"Oh, please, call me Rick," he gets back to her, the smile audible in his voice. He is happy. He is elevated.

"Rick," Emily says softly.

"Shall we get going?" Kevin Ryan bursts their little bubble as he asks from Jenny. Just as like feeling the distress of Beckett.

"I think we should," Jenny answers honestly. "Because we are kind of late for our reservation."

Ryan turns to Castle, who is standing in front of Emily, eyeing her intently. "Castle, you ready to go?"

Just like waking from some kind of spell, he breaks his gaze with Emily and nods to Ryan. "Yeah, I am all set. Let's get going."

Ryan picks up his jacket from her stool and Castle puts his iPhone he forgot he was holding, back to his pocket. Jenny starts walking out and Emily turns around and follows her, an amused smile playing on her lips. Then, she suddenly stops and turns back to Esposito and Beckett. "It was really nice to meet you, detectives."

Esposito shares a seductive smile to her and answers "The pleasure was all mine." Then Emily looks at Beckett, who is currently sitting in her chair. Beckett raises her eyes to meet hers and the detective shares a weak smile. "It was really nice to meet you too. Have fun."

Emily waves at them both and turns around to catch Jenny and Kevin. Before Kate can adjust to the emptiness of the homicide floor, she hears Castle saying, "Have a good evening, Detective. See you tomorrow."

She is surprised he was still there. She raises her eyes again to find him standing few feet away from her. She smiles, but her smile doesn't reach to her eyes. "You are going to be late, Castle."

Castle nods slightly. He turns to go and he catches Beckett's soft "Night," before he heads out the bullpen area. He stops and looks back to Kate. She notices him hesitate to say something. He smiles slightly, but turns around and walks away.

Jenny, Kevin and Emily are waiting in front of the elevator doors when he catches up with them. The moving doors open with soft metallic sound and they all step inside. Before the doors close completely, Castle looks up and gazes over the homicide floor. He sees Beckett there, both of her arms supporting her head as she sits at her desk. He swears he sees sadness in her half covered face. Esposito is looking at her sympathetically. Just as if he had felt Castle eyeing them, Esposito glances up and looks directly at him, his look judgmental and dangerous. Then his gaze lifts back to Beckett and he steps closer to her and says something to her that makes her wake from her spell of sadness.

He is interrupted by elevator doors closing in on him. He sighs and then turns his attention back to Emily and Jenny.

* * *

"Beckett," she hears the soothing sound of his friend and partner Javier coming closer to her desk. "Are you okay?"

She sighs. Damn, she wasn't as invisible she wanted to be. She looks up to the standing man beside her table and answers "Of course I am, why I shouldn't be?" _Lies, lies, again the lies._Of course she is upset. Just as she started to fall more and more for the guy, he decides to go to a date. And he really seems to like the woman. Who wouldn't like her? She is pretty, she is gracious, she is tall. She is perfect for Castle.

Espo looks at her intently. He knows that she is not okay. He always knows. "Beckett, I know you. You are not alright."

"Espo," she warns.

"Come on. Ryan brings Castle's date in the precinct, right under your nose. It must have hurt. At least a little bit."

"Hurt?" she chokes in surprise. That man knows her. Her big brother, her guardian. He knows her so well.

"Espo, I'm a big girl," she sighs. "Castle is a free man, he can date whoever he wants." she tries to assure him.

"Becket," he tries again. He knows that something is up.

"Esposito, leave it alone," she warns him again, looking in front of her again, trying to focus on the paper she was reading.

"Alright, but I know something is wrong," he tries to make her understand. She snorts inwardly. Of course something is wrong. She is jealous. She shouldn't be. Castle can date if he wants. He doesn't need her consent.

"Javi. I am grateful that you are concerned, but I am okay," She looks at him again. He doesn't quite believe her. "I am," she smiles to him and tries to show that she is okay.

"Okay," he gives up with a sigh. Esposito heads to his desk and shifts through some papers. He looks at her for a second, "You know, it's late, you should head home. I, for example, am going," He grabs his jacket and gets himself going. Before he is finally out of the homicide floor, he turns around and shouts at her "Go home Beckett, tomorrow is a new day!"

She raises her arm in notion that she got the message. With that, Esposito heads out.

She, in spite of Esposito's message, stays at the precinct for hours. She wants to distract herself with the case, so she doesn't have to think about Castle.

When she finally leaves the precinct when it's some hours missing from midnight. She decides a pizza, wine and a hot bath would make her mood better.

* * *

**Thank you all for putting up with the crazy fic of ours. I promise. We are trying hard to please us guys. But we are doing it in our own way. Slowly, but surely.**

**I really do hope that you like this chapter and you'll let us know how you did like it.**

**Thanks for lv2bnsb1 for reading it over and beta-ing for us. You are awesome. And thanks for Tycho, xs18, Tvjas, Blowsup, Jordan S and many others for keeping our spirits high with all of those awesome reviews. Just keep em comin!**


	8. Chapter 8

Esposito is the first to arrive at work in the next day. The bullpen is deserted when he steps out of the elevator. The room is filled with the yellow glow of the morning's sun. He steps to his desk and places his coffee cup down, before walking in front of the murder board. He stares at the white planes of the board for a long time, trying to work through the information, before he sits down in his chair.

He gets a message from his boss - she had a new lead concerning the mother of the fiancée and now Beckett was bringing her to the precinct. Early bird like she was - starting her day way too early for normal people. He closes the message and shakes his head.

When Ryan finally arrives to work, juggling with his cup of coffee in one hand and his jacket in another, Esposito is eyeing him judgmentally.

"How was the hot date?" he asks, when curiosity gets better of him.

Ryan smiles to his partner, placing his cup down to his table. "It was great. We had very good time. Although Emily and Castle are both great to go out with, so it shouldn't have been a surprise."

"I'm glad," Esposito responds honestly. There is an awkward moment of silence between them. Esposito shifts in his chair, looking to his smiling partner.

"You should have seen Beckett yesterday," he starts tentatively. "She was really down after you and Castle left."

"She was?" Ryan asks, his smile quickly disappears, replaced with concern in his face, thinking what to do. "Should I do something?" he feels guilty asking Castle a favour. He too knows that something is going on between 'mom and dad'. But he doesn't know where they are at, in their relationship. And now, it seems that his own actions have tilted the balance of their fragile partnership.

"Naah, bro." Esposito shakes his head. "I asked her. She insisted that she was okay. So - there's nothing we can do."

"Ookay, but that doesn't make me feel less guilty." Ryan confesses, sipping the hot beverage from his cup.

"You shouldn't have done it in the first place," Esposito retorts. "Serves you right to feel guilty."

Ryan looks down at the paperwork on his desk, his face obviously flustered.

After a moment of awkward silence Esposito proposes, trying to change the subject, "Let's talk with the brother of the victim. I have some questions for him," He stands up, ready to head out. "He should be still down in the holding."

"Okay," the Irish detective agrees and follows his partner down the stairs.

* * *

Kaido is leaning back in his chair, massaging his temples with both hands, his complexion still looking pale. His looks up slowly at the detectives as they set themselves opposite him. His eyes are bloodshot, and he avoids looking at the bright light above the table.

Esposito is mildly amused at Kaido's plight. "I hear you had a _killer_ day yesterday, Kaido."

"Please, do you have to yell? I seem to have picked up a headache behind my eyeballs." Kaido groans and closes his eyes, pressing his fingers to his temples, slowly drawing circles with them.

Ryan shakes his head at Kaido's obvious misery and asks "So feeling any better?"

"Well I did get a coffee, and a change of clothes, thanks," the Estonian looks down at his now orange costume. "The migraine now is only mildly excruciating," he sighs and tries to find a comfortable position to sit.

"So, what really happened yesterday? You admitted to killing your brother. That really happen?" Ryan leans forward, and stares directly at Kaido, resting his chin in the palm of his hand, elbows on the table.

Kaido looks up at them both, uncertainty in his eyes. A flicker of embarrassment runs through him and he opens his mouth. "To be honest, I can't really remember all that much. Just playing video games at home, and..." he falls into deep thought. "Well, that's about it," he gets out after a long silence.

"So you didn't ride a motorcycle along side your brother's car, and fire a gun through the door?" Esposito looks at Kaido intently, his eyes boring into the still stinking suspect.

"I can't even ride a bike, let alone own a gun," he throws a look at the two detectives, like they had made a bad joke. "Only in 'Grand Theft Auto'. I was playing it yesterday. Great game," the condemnation in his eyes changes to a smile, when he answers honestly to them both of them. "Can't say that I am sad that he is gone though. How's that for brotherly love?"

Kaido's frank admission about his recent brother's death and lack of remorse surprises the detectives. Esposito looks hard at Kaido, gauging whether he is genuine or not. "So you aren't upset your brother is dead?"

He sighs. "You don't understand my family. Let me fill you in." He rocks back slowly and pauses, mulling over where to start his tale. "My brother didn't get to his position by playing Mr. nice guy. What he wanted, he took, and he didn't care who he trampled in the process, myself included. I caught him with my now _ex_-girlfriend in bed, sometime ago now. He laughed in my face and said, 'Now she knows a real Järvesoo'". The last statement was punctuated with a contemptuous snort. "And that was about it for me."

"The rest of the family feels the same way?" Ryan prods him to answer more.

"Well there is just me and my brother. And my parents are around of course, they live back at homeland. They think the sun shines out of his ass." He raises his hands in mock supplication. "Pardon the French".

"No apologies needed." said Ryan, appreciating his candour. "So you kept in touch with your brother regularly?"

"Every now and again. Couple of times we met in town, to catch up with some friends who moved out here as well. You know. Even at those reunions, we kept our distance. He used to bring his latest and greatest girl along, I am sure just to flaunt her in my face." A satisfied smirk appears across his face. "Look where that got you, brother."

"So you know anyone who would want to kill him?" Esposito asks curiously.

Kaido laughs without any humour behind it. "Kill him? Hey, the queue would be from here to Central Park."

Esposito frowns, "Come now Kaido, throw us a bone. You seriously know anyone with enough anger to gun him down?"

His smirk slowly fades away from his features and he starts to think harder. "Well now there was this one girl he dated recently. Her name was..." He grimaces in concentration, trying to dredge up her name. He snaps his fingers. "Stephanie. Yes, Stephanie."

Esposito straightens a little in his chair and glances at his partner, surprised about the turn of events. "Stephanie killed your brother?"

"No. No." Kaido waves off the suggestion as ludicrous. "No, Steph is just one of those pretty gold diggers looking for a trophy husband. Not her, definitely not her."

"Ok. Who do you..." Espo tries to continue when he gets interrupted again by Kaido.

"Now I only met her once, but her mother, Amanda, ...well sheesh. That is one crazy bitch."

* * *

"Come on now," Beckett growls through her teeth. She woke too early, she is tired and snappy. Her eyes are grainy and she looks and feels like truck has run her over. Even though it's still morning, she wishes the day would be over already, so she could get back to her warm bed. Today is just not her day.

She is walking next to a young looking lady who looks really irritated, and like she would gladly bite a piece out of the detective who is escorting her. The blonde is Amanda, the mother of Stephanie. Beckett had found out her address in the morning. She was a hard piece to find, but Beckett had managed to do it anyway. Now, comes the tricky part, making her confess.

"Do you have to hold me so tight?" the blonde-haired woman asks, her high voice between irritation and frustration.

"Yes, I do," the female detective states. "You tried to run away three times. I am not letting you go until we get to the interrogation room."

"Honestly, I am innocent! Why do you not believe me?" The suspect start squirming against Beckett's hold on her once more, testing the boundaries of her patience.

"Really?" Beckett stops abruptly in front of the interrogation room door. Her face is full of surprise as the woman turns around to face her. "So why did you decide to flee? Three times doesn't exactly scream innocent."

"Because you surprised me. And I thought you were someone else. Believe me, I am innocent!" Amanda pipes out loud.

"We'll see, let's just go in here." Beckett mumbles and pushes the woman into the room.

* * *

Esposito and Ryan are back at their desks, throwing a stress ball between them, Esposito chewing on a morning donut as well. They both stop their activities as they see Beckett coming on to homicide floor, dragging a crazy looking blonde behind her. They witness the argument and see Beckett disappearing to the interrogation room with the suspect.

Esposito turns his head to Ryan "I presume this is the crazy bitch Kaido was telling us about."

"Probably." Ryan agrees.

"Let's go watch?" Espo proposes. Ryan nods at his partner and they both head to the Observation room.

The detectives are silent for a while, watching the story unveil under their eyes. After a short while, Ryan swings his legs back down from the table. "When she finishes, let's bring Peeter back in?" he suggests to his partner.

The Hispanic detective nods, not turning away his gaze from the interrogation room.

"Javi, you have sugar all over your mouth. Not a good look." Ryan laughs when he discovers that from his partner's face. Espo looks at Ryan, disapprovingly, although he brings his hand up to wipe off the remaining fluffy sugar on his jaw.

"Castle hasn't made an appearance either. Although not surprising given he had a quite a night." Ryan muses after a moment of silence again, noting that Beckett is conducting the interrogation alone this time. His smile drops when he sees Esposito's disapproving stare. "Okay, I will shut up."

* * *

"Walk me through it, Amanda, please," Beckett sighs as the interview continues in the interrogation room. The fair-haired woman is sitting across the table, looking extremely irritated. She plays with her bracelets and she looks like she could lash out at any minute.

"He emptied her trust fund account," the woman stresses. "It took us years to put it together for my daughter. And the son of a bitch just comes around and takes the money. And … Stephanie was stupid enough to give him the account details." She sighs in frustration. "What else I was supposed to do. I was furious. I confronted them both. At first he denied it all. But then they stood against me together, saying that it wasn't any of my business! How dare them! It was _MY _money!" she yells out loud, hitting the table with his fist.

Beckett blinks her eyes in surprise. Using the pause in the woman's rant, she asked. "What happened then?"

"Then Stephanie just blurts out that she is pregnant?" Amanda's looks the detective, eyes large like saucers. "Like I wasn't mad enough before. Now they had at least a reason to have that damn money. But nooooo. The next day, Steph comes to me, crying, saying that Kalev had beaten her up after she told the news to him and said that everything was off."

"So that was enough for you to kill him?" she squints her eyes, tries to find logic in the woman's story.

"NOOO!" Amanda yells at her. "I would never kill anybody, can't you see?" she leans forward, to make her point clear to the female detective.

"You have to prove it to me, Amanda. Right now, everything points to you." Beckett tells her firmly without blinking an eye. She pushes herself forward to make the point clear to the woman.

"I did not kill him." she pushes through her teeth. "I went to confront him. But the son of a bitch was so cocky. He yelled at me and threatened to hit me if I didn't leave. I tried to talk to him about the child and the money but he didn't listen at all and threw me out of the apartment." She huffs and crosses her arms on her chest.

"And then what happened?" Beckett asks again, trying to get more information out of the woman. Amanda fell silent and shifted herself uncomfortably on the stool. "You got back home. And took the bike and went for the kill?" Beckett suggests, her voice stern and serious.

"I told you! I DIDN'T do it!" she yells out loud, frustrated. "Yes, I went to ride the bike, but I never even had the idea of shooting him," she confesses. "But I would thank whoever killed him. He _deserved_ it."

"So you _wanted_ to kill him?" Beckett asks, trying to shuffle her closer to the truth.

"Of course I did! Who wouldn't have wanted it? He is an asshole and I am glad he's dead!" Amanda blurts out, without thinking.

Beckett sighs. It doesn't make sense. She had the bike, she had the outfit. She could have done it. But something is off with the story.

"Why did you take your son's bike out yesterday, Amanda?" Beckett asks from the woman.

"Because I wanted to," she sighs out, sounding tired already.

"But you don't usually drive the motorcycle, right?" Beckett knows to ask, leaning forward again, joining both of her hands in the table.

"No, I don't like it. But it was the only ride that was home at the time. So I didn't care anymore. I needed change. I needed to get away from the city."

"That was the only reason?" Beckett doesn't seem to believe the woman.

"Yes. It was. What else was I supposed to do? It wasn't like I had a gun lying around and went on a shooting spree," she closes her eyes and leans back in the chair. She was now clearly tired and annoyed.

"Are you sure? Because, right now, you seem like a perfect fit for the murder." Beckett points out, her face dead serious. "You had everything to make this happen. And it doesn't look good that you don't have an alibi for the time of the murder."

"I didn't do it!" she yells out again.

"Where were you Tuesday morning at 11am?" the detective ignores Amanda's yelling and continues pressing for information despite her rant.

"I told you, I was on a bike! I was trying to head out of the city!" Amanda barks out, annoyedly.

"We don't have any proof that you were heading out. You could have just randomly driven around the city and killed him in the process." Beckett tries to push the woman's buttons, maybe some of the words would hit her in the right place.

"I told you, I didn't do it! Oh my god, you, cops, are so stupid!" Amanda yells out.

Ignoring the last comment with a raised eyebrow, she sighs and speaks with a calm and cold voice, "I will be looking into your statements, but you haven't really given me any information to corroborate your claim of innocence. You are going to stay here until the uniforms have finished searching your apartment. As soon as they find the murder weapon, you will be going into jail for real." she threatens the older woman.

"How many times do I need to say, I. DIDN'T. DO. IT!" she spells the last words out. "I have no murder weapon!" she tries to make the detective understand.

"Are you sure?" Beckett squints her eyes and looking at the suspect. She continues voice low and dangerous. "Because right now, Amanda, there is nothing that can support your statements."

The woman falls silent. Beckett waits for her to say something, but Amanda doesn't do it. She's done talking. Beckett waits for few more minutes, but nothing.

"You are going to stay here until the warrant has been seen through," Beckett informs her. Amanda just sighs.

Beckett stands up and signals for the uniform to come in to the interrogation room. The man enters and heads over to the suspect.

"Take her to the holding," Beckett asks from the young officer.

He starts tugging the suspect out from the chair when Amanda points her finger at Beckett and yells to her when she is stepping out from the interrogation room "You will see, I am innocent. I am. No matter what anybody says!"

Beckett exits the interrogation room with a sigh and stops. She looks over the fairly empty room and starts heading to her desk, slowly shuffling through her folder of notes. She sees Esposito and Ryan standing in front of her desk and Castle directly across them, heading for her chair. All of the three guys are entranced by some kind of debate, so they don't notice her. She closes her eyes for a moment, takes in a deep breath and prepares herself to face the music.

* * *

**A/N: **

_**Brett:**_** Big thanks to kimmiesjoy, and lv2bnsb who have provided many helpful suggestions for the story. Been a blast writing with Trinx so far. We have had a hell of a good time putting it together so far. We love reviews! Good or bad. So tell us what you think...**

_**Trinxy**_**: I do enjoy writing this fic, and please stay with us! The story is far from over. We have plans, oh we have good plans. Casketty goodness soon (hopefully). Keep tuned in. And review! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Note: A little guide through names. Kaido – the victim's brother. Kalev – the victim. Kaarel – old consulate general. Peeter – Kaarel's worker, his lover. The rest of them you know.**

* * *

When the two detectives silently step out of the observation room, they are both amused. The woman was as crazy as Kaido had told them. Esposito has a smirk on his face and he looks to his partner who matches his smile.

"Man, this is nuts," is the only thing Esposito says, shaking his head. They both head to their desks, Esposito leading the way and Ryan few steps behind him.

"I wonder how many people really wanted to kill him?" Ryan muses out loud. Esposito turns himself around a sends a confused look to his partner. He corrects himself immediately, "I mean, there are at least three people who came in claiming to be the killer, but so far, we can't pin it on any of them."

"And?" Esposito doesn't understand what he wants to say.

"If people so desperately wanted to kill the bastard, why haven't we been able to find the killer yet?" Ryan asks, more from himself than from his partner.

"Maybe the day is still young. There is plenty of time for more people to come in and confess they killed him." Esposito mocks when he turns himself around again, heading towards his desk.

"No, but seriously," Ryan tries to make his point clear, "Why do they all want him dead?"

Esposito snorts out a laugh after Ryan's question and before he can answer there is a voice coming from the opposite end of the homicide floor.

"I think I can answer that!" Castle yells as he is stepping out of the elevator.

The detectives turn their heads in unison, to watch Castle coming closer to the murder board. He has some papers in his hand and he is giddy as a kid at Christmas time. He shares a big smile for the boys.

"Hey there, Castle." Esposito calls out. "I heard you had a big night?"

Castle stops when he reaches them and looks at Ryan quizzically. He warily answers, "Yes?" which sounds more like a question than a statement.

"I briefed him about the date," Ryan throws a questioning glance to Espo and tries to salvage the situation seeing that the question made Castle somewhat uncomfortable.

"Oh, you did?" Castle's brows shot up in surprise and he looks at Ryan.

The detective looks back at him and shrugs slightly. "I had a really good night with you guys," he answers honestly to Castle. "You and Emily seemed to get along really well. And you even escorted her back to her place. An hour later. So I thought the date went really well." He mumbles out the last bit.

Castle's features relax and he smiles to Ryan. "Yeah, I really liked the date night as well. The food was marvelous and the musical Jenny chose for us was very amusing." He pauses for effect and points a finger to Ryan. "And nothing happened," he shares with Esposito. "Ryan and Jenny seemed to be in hurry to go home, I had to make sure she'd enjoy the city a bit more and to see that she made it home safely."

"Riiight," Esposito drawls out his comment and smirks.

Castle looks pointedly to Espo. "Really. Who do you think I am?"

Esposito laughs out loud. "You are Richard Castle, the playboy millionaire."

Castle barks out a humorless laugh, his features getting serious with passing seconds. "Yeah, well, actually I'm not really that guy anymore. Haven't been for a long time."

"Sure you aren't." Esposito prods again. But then his smirk slowly falls off his face when he starts thinking harder. "Wait a minute. Come to think of it, you really haven't been dating." he pauses like he is thinking some more. "And I haven't seen you on papers either. What is wrong with you, man? Are you living as a hermit now?"

That draws out laughter from Ryan. "Espo, please. Castle as a hermit? He can't survive even an hour alone."

"Hey now! I am not that bad!" Castle protests half-heartedly when he sits down in Beckett's chair. The boys take seats across from the desk. Suddenly Ryan looks somewhere behind him and smiles and looks back to Castle fast. The writer finds that odd and furrows his eyebrow, trying to think what's going on.

Before he can turn himself around and find out, he hears a woman's voice coming somewhere really close. "Of course you are."

He jerks and turns his head sharply at the sound of Beckett's voice. She is slightly bowing, her mouth at his ear level. She is too close to him and he jerks back slightly, in order to not to bump their foreheads together. She only smirks at him and straightens herself. Her eyes bore into him and he looks at her quizzically. Then he remembers - he is sitting in her chair. He bolts upright and goes straight for his chair, sitting down there with a soft thump. The commotion earns a chuckle from Esposito and Ryan.

"Thank you." Beckett says when she sits down. She makes herself comfortable in her chair and asks, "So, what were you housewives gossiping about?"

All three of them look at each other, their looks a little startled. Esposito is the one who recovers the quickest and gets back to Beckett, "We were discussing Castle's and Ryan's double date here. Before you caught us, Mary Alice."

Beckett looks at him and can't repress a bubbling laughter. Esposito realizes that he just confessed that he has watched the soap and the look of horror on his face is too funny to ignore. "Smooth, Espo," she laughs out loud, Castle and Ryan joining in. Espo just mumbles something like _'I'm just gonna shut up now...'_and turns his face away from her, trying to change the subject.

She decides to ignore the topic of 'The Date'. She doesn't want to know how well it went. It will be painful for her, she decides. Instead, she tries to change the topic herself. For her sake and to avoid Esposito's further embarrassment.

"So, have you interviewed the old Consular General's lover yet?" Beckett asks the boys.

Ryan chimes in, "Nope, not yet. We were waiting for you to finish up with the crazy mom."

"So, she denied everything?" Esposito asks, curiosity getting the best of him.

Beckett nods in his direction. "Yep. She denied killing him. She said she was heading out of the town."

"That's a first," Esposito comments sarcastically, making both Ryan and Castle chuckle and Beckett throw a glare at him. "Well, it _is_ true. She's the first one _not_claiming to kill him."

She rolls her eyes at Esposito and focuses back on the case files located all over her desk. Before the boys or Castle can say anything, she sighs and thoughtfully muses, "I just hope that the search of Amanda's home will bring us some new information, otherwise we are looking at another dead end." She shakes her head, like trying to repress a bad dream. "Do you guys have anything new on the vic?"

Ryan is first one to respond, "Not much new. We went through his financials and the picture is pretty much as Stephanie said it would be - he had transferred the trust fund money to his personal account. The last three months seem to be quite uneventful in his account, if we don't count the recent addition." He collects some papers from the far end of her table and places them to her waiting hand. She starts looking the sheets full of numbers and words.

Castle, who has managed to be quiet the whole conversation, suddenly remembers the folder in his hand. He gently taps her arm. She raises her eyes from the paper to him.

"I think I found something," he tries to explain energetically, waving a file folder in his hand.

She raises an eyebrow and the boys turn their full attention to him. "Really?" she asks, smirking. She is unable stop the mocking. "When did you have the time to do research? Last I heard, you were out having fun."

He looks her with a slight smile, but his eyes serious. "I did have a good time. But when I got home, I couldn't sleep." He pauses when he sees Beckett doing her eyebrow thing again. He smirks inwardly - she can hardly contain her jealousy and keeps lashing out on him. He decides to ignore her. He can deal with this later. "Yes, I couldn't sleep, Beckett, because I was thinking about the case."

"What did you find out, bro?" Esposito asks.

"Well, I was testing my google skills by searching his name on the internet. I hoped that some English articles or information would pop up. But the only things I could find in English were the info in the UN pages and on the Estonian UN page. Those articles were about how good and hardworking a person he is and they praise him to heaven." He pauses for effect. All three detectives are watching him intently. He smiles. He knows how all three of them love when he is spinning his stories. Not any one of them would never say it out loud. But he knows.

He continues, "And then I noticed, that most of the information written about him on google was in Estonian. It makes sense too - he was an Estonian citizen. Thank god for google translate. It makes everything easier these days."

Beckett is baffled, she closes her mouth and asks, "You translated articles from Estonian to English?"

Castle nods. "With google it's very easy. Just click in the right places and voila! But I must say, that Estonian language is a very weird. I had a hard time understanding any of it. Usually Spanish or French or Italian makes a tiny bit of sense. But this was too messed up. Too many vowels for my taste. And you should have seen the length of some words. How do they even speak that language without sounding like they want to puke? And... the translator sucks when it comes to converting from Estonian to English. I could barely understand what was written i-"

"Castle!" Beckett interrupts his ranting. He snaps his head up to look her. "What did you find out?"

"Ah, yes." he nods "It turns out, he didn't have good reputation back in Estonia. As much as I gathered from few articles around, he was rumored to have problems with bribing people when he worked in the parliament there. He was basically a dirty fish in that particular pond. But the deal is, he never got caught or never was accused officially. The articles point out that as well."

"Okay, so bad history back in the homeland too?" Beckett muses, her face thoughtful, eyebrows furrowed, trying to place the details in the right order in her head.

"Apparently, he came to live in New York a year ago, together with his brother. The local papers wrote that he got along with his family well." He is silent for a moment, trying to make a theatrical pause. "But we saw that wasn't the case. His brother hates his guts, basically."

"Did you find anything else?" Beckett is restless and probes him further.

He nods again, taking out one paper from his file folder and he passes it to Beckett. She takes it tentatively and holds it in front of her. Both Ryan and Esposito crane their necks to see what it's written there. He smiles a wide smile, like a cat that has eaten the canary. "See, they write there about the old Consulate General getting sick over time and how he had to give up his place in the consulate. He is rumored to still be in New York, somewhere, getting his health back slowly."

"Okay, what's that got to do with the murder?" Ryan asks, confusion residing all over his face.

"Listen further." Castle tells him, "I noticed one more thing." He points to the paper in Beckett's hands. "See how he says that his health started to degenerate a year ago. Approximately the same time Kalev moved to the Big Apple."

Beckett, who just finished reading the article, adds, "And as soon as the old Consulate General got too ill to work, he was there to take over his work. It can't be just a coincidence," she leans forward in her chair, putting the paper down to the table, and turning to her detectives. "Ryan, Esposito, see what you can find from the boyfriend you have in holding."

Both detectives nod in unison and start heading downstairs. Beckett shifts in her chair and opens up the computer. She looks at him for a few and points to the paper he had brought to her, "This translation thing is really terrible. A very poorly translated article."

"Told you so. Never trust the google translate to do human's job." Castle agrees, shifting closer to her. "What are _we_going to do?" Castle asks, wanting to know how to pursue further with the newly found information.

"I am going to do some research in the Immigration database about Kaarel Voorman," she shares nonchalantly.

"I am supposed to just watch you working?" he teasingly says, trying to get some reaction out of her. He gets what he wants when she rolls her eyes.

"Isn't that what you do anyway?" she asks sarcastically, smirking.

"Touché, detective." he smiles and nods "Touché."

* * *

Peeter is sitting nervously in his chair, his clothes still looking quite neat, despite a night in holding. He looks up at the detectives who have taken a seat opposite of him and quickly looks down once more, wringing his hands together. Ryan and Esposito, for their part, both cross their arms and stare at Peeter, prepared to sweat him a little. It seems to work, and the detective's silence makes Peeter even more nervous and fidgety.

Finally it gets the better of him, and Peeter holds out his palms to them. "What?" he says in exasperation.

Ryan clears his throat, looks at his partner who shrugs, then back to their captive. "Anything you want to tell us, Peeter?"

Peeter pauses and lets out a deep sigh, slumping in his chair. "Not really. I can't help you."

Esposito leans forwards and looks directly into Peeter's eyes. "So, how would you describe your relationship with the former Consulate General?"

He eyes the detective suspiciously, but answering warily. "Well, he was a very close friend."

Esposito is unimpressed with his answer, and keeps silent, arms folded across his chest.

Peeter can only keep his facade for so long before he finally cracks. "Ok. Ok. You probably you know he was more than that. He was my lover. It's a free world, you know?"

Esposito smiles at Peeter with no warmth, "It's cool man. We just wanted to clarify the relationship for the sake of the case." He looks over at his partner his gives a barely perceptible head nod.

"Kaarel Voorman. Tell me about him," Ryan tells the suspect.

Peeter, for the first time in the interview, raises a small grin. "Well he was a generous and thoughtful man. Nothing was too much trouble for him. Always willing to help, no matter what time of the day, be it on a busy day, or very late at night." The pride was evident in his voice. "And he was my best friend."

"Sounds like a stand up guy, Peeter." Esposito is tapping his fingers on the table and thoughtful expression on his face. "How was his health lately?"

At this question, Peeter's eyes widen and he instantly becomes more guarded. "Why do you ask?"

"Well the consulate staff says his health hasn't been good for a while. That true?" Esposito asks more forcefully.

Peeter leans back and looks back at both detectives, alternating his focus between them both, deciding on what to tell them. Finally with a deep sigh, he seems to have made a decision. "No. His health hasn't been good for quite some time. The last year really."

Ryan, quiet up till now, urges Peeter on. "Do you know what his problem is? Is it curable?"

"He hasn't told me exactly what he has, but has promised me tell me in good time. I am patient." Peeter's answer seems genuine, and both Ryan and Esposito feel they are getting somewhere at last.

Ryan prods Peeter further, "You suspect something though, don't you Peeter."

His expression turns sullen and angry. "Kaarel was in perfect health, when he took on a new advisor, on the advice of our government. And from that point on, I could see the sickness gradually take hold of him. Coincidence? I think not!"

"The new advisor?" Espo tries to make him say out his name. Peeter swallows the bait in seconds.

"Kalev Järvesoo!" he spits out the name.

"Wait. Slow down Peeter. You saying that Kalev was the reason Kaarel is sick?"

"Yes! That is exactly what I am saying." Peeter has now lost all composure and is breathing heavily.

Ryan and Esposito keep calm and cool, experienced in interviews, and keep probing for more information. "Maybe there is a natural cause for this Peeter. He hasn't told you, to spare your feelings perhaps? What makes you so sure it was Kalev?" asks Ryan.

"You don't understand. He had no sympathy for Kaarel when he was at his worst. Oh sure, to his face he was polite, but..." he points a finger to the roof. "Every now and again when I dropped by to see Kaarel, I would see a greasy little grin on his face. It was a grin of contempt. Like he was pleased about something." Peeter spits out the last sentence in disdain.

Esposito waits a few seconds for Peeter to cool down. "So you know where we could find the former Consulate general, Kaarel? He is proving to be little difficult to track down."

"I have absolutely no idea." Peeter states rather unconvincingly.

"Oh really? You don't know where your boyfriend is currently residing at all? Peeter, you can do better than that?"

A knock on the interview room breaks the tension in the room. A uniformed officer walks in, hands a sheet to Ryan, and makes his way back out, closing the door behind him. Ryan shows the sheet to Esposito, who raises his eyebrows. They mumble quietly between each other, and a curious Peeter wonders what the note contains.

Esposito finally addresses Peeter once more. "So, are you going to tell us where Kaarel is? We know you know."

"Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Kaarel is a sick man, and needs his peace." Peeter crosses his arms, and leans back in his chair, prepared to wait out the question at hand. The detectives notice his demeanor, and realize he isn't going to budge.

"So, why did you admit to the murder?" Ryan barks out.

"But I did kill him..." Peeter starts to say but Ryan stops him.

"Peeter. Stop with the absurd lie. We have a receipt here showing you buying a coffee across the other side of town at the time of the murder. We know you are covering for Kaarel. And believe me, we will find him."

"He had nothing to do with it!" his tone verges on the edge of panic.

"Well that's for us to find out Peeter." Ryan glances at his partner, who shrugs in response. "You are free to go."

Peeter looks stunned at this, and slowly gets up out of his chair, his eyes never leaving Ryan. He notices the attention as he and Esposito exit the room. "And don't leave town. We will have more questions soon enough."

* * *

**A/N: So this was it, the next chapter of our story. I still hope you are with us. And still liking the story. Let us know what you think of it and what else you want to see further on?**

**Thanks everybody for reviewing us! It makes us feel spechul. And thanks lv2bnsb and Kimmiesjoy for betaing! Yer awesome!**

**R&R!**


	10. Chapter 10

"So, you found anything yet?" Castle asks impatiently.

Beckett is still sitting by her desk, her eyes at the computer screen. She has been there like this for over 10 minutes, trying to make some sense of the immigration databases. Castle has been playing with his IPhone the whole time, but now he was getting bored. Next level of Rope'n'Fly was too hard for him. So he promptly closes his phone and starts to annoy Beckett. He loves to do that. Oh, he so does.

Kate tears her eyes away from the computer screen and turns her gaze to Castle. "Yes, I have."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" he asks, shifting closer to her, surprise and a little hurt sounding in his voice.

"Because I was checking it over. And you seemed to be busy doing... something," she answers truthfully, shifting her gaze back to the monitor.

"And...? What did you find out?" he decides to poke more, propping his elbows on the table and resting his head in his hands.

She answers while rising up from her chair and heading to the murder board. "Kaarel Voorman has an apartment in the city. His paycheck allowed him to live on the Upper West side. West 83rd Street, near the Museum of Natural History." She reaches to the board and grabs a marker and uncaps it with one swift move. There is a picture of the ex consulate general there. She starts writing the address next to the picture.

"Wow, this is very expensive neighborhood," Castle comments now raising from his chair and walking closer to her. He parks his bottom on the desk and watches her fill out the information on the murder board.

"We should send Ryan and Esposito to check if he is still in the country. Since he doesn't work in the consulate anymore, he could have travelled back to Estonia by now," she thinks out loud, gazing the picture of the older man with white hair. They both fall silent for a while, reading the information from the white board. Their quiet speculation is interrupted by an uniformed lady who interrupts the silence when she walks in. She gives Beckett a file folder, with some papers there.

"Thanks, Leary," she nods to the officer and looks down to the folder. She opens and reads what is inside. After a moment of concentration she huffs out a breath. "Damn."

"What is it?" Castle supports her with a question, sneaking closer to her.

"It's from the Evans' apartment. They found a gun, but it doesn't match the bullets found in victim's body." Beckett is definitely disappointed at this point. "I was so sure it was the crazy mom."

"They didn't find anything else?" Castle asks. Beckett simply responds by handing him the folder, which he takes gladly. A familiar rhythm as they seamlessly work in front of the board.

"Nope," she shakes her head. She raises her hand to her face and slides it over her delicate features. Her fingers stop at her lips. She huffs out softly "Nothing that could tie her to the murder. I have to let her go."

"Hmm..." Castle hums, while checking the papers.

"What?" she asks, her brows furrowing up.

"Kalev's brother didn't kill him, right?" he asks, putting the folder down to her table. When she nods to him, he continues. "Neither did Stephanie nor Amanda." She nods again. He stands up from the table and starts walking towards the whiteboard. "The consulate worker Peeter seems to be pretty innocent too?"

She nods again, getting a little impatient. "What are you getting at?"

"We are running out of suspects," he points to the murder board, the suspect list now only has the picture of the consulate worker Peeter there, other ones have already been removed by Beckett.

"Faster than rats of a sinking ship," Castle and Beckett turns their heads sharply in unison as they hear Esposito's voice from the other end of the room. Both he and Ryan are coming closer to them.

"We just finished the interview with Peeter Kask," Esposito points to the picture of the remaining suspect and yanking his picture off the board. "He alibied out. We got word that he was spotted buying coffee from a nearby Starbucks during the shooting."

Beckett lets loose another sigh. "So we are out of suspects, aren't we?" The boys nod in unison.

"We did manage to pull out some info though," Ryan shares, shuffling closer to the three of them.

"Yes," Esposito supports his partner.

Castle raises his eyebrows to them and Beckett gestures for them to continue talking. "We managed to confirm Castle's theory. The consulate worker turns out to be the lover of the named Kaarel Voorman. He had noticed his health declining as well. And he was pretty sure that Kalev had something to do with it."

"Oh, really?" Castle beams. "I love my google skills!" he squeals out loudly, making Beckett roll her eyes.

Esposito ignores him and continues. "He confronted Kaarel Voorman about his health, but the consulate general didn't share information with him. So, we think that he suspected something as well. Kaarel was taking some measures to get back to Kalev."

Beckett turns herself away from the boys, facing the board again. She writes the name of the ex-consulate general under the suspects column. "So, we have a new suspect then?" she asks, turning back to Esposito.

"It seems so." Esposito nods.

"Detective Beckett!"

All of the four standing in front of the murder board hear a female voice calling for one of them. Captain Victoria Gates is stepping out from her office and heading towards them.

"Yes, Sir?" Beckett answers back.

"I just had a very interesting call from Police Commissioner," The Captain shares the new information with the group.

"Oh?" Beckett is stunned. It isn't very usual that her Captain would just come down and sit with them and share stories with her and her team.

"Yes, apparently the Estonian president is very eager to find out who is the killer of his country's Consulate General." she looks at the detectives, making sure that they would understand how important the case is for her.

"Oh, no pressure then." Castle answers jokingly, trying to ease the tension around them. This rewards him with a stern glance from Captain Gates. He realizes in a heartbeat that it wasn't really funny in this situation "Sorry, Sir," he tries to backpedal. He stops when he feels a hand on her arm and he looks down to Beckett who is trying to shut him up. She answers for him "Sorry, sir. What Castle is trying to say is that this case gets more frustrating by the minute."

Gates just looks at her detectives. "Well, I hope you all can get your act together and start moving towards solving the case."

Both Esposito and Ryan nod at what she said and they all feel a little bit uncomfortable. Gates suddenly asks "What have you got so far?"

Kate is the first to react, she straightens her back and starts talking "Uh. We had three really good suspects. One was the victim's brother, but he alibied out because he was spending the night at home, high as a kite. Next one was one consulate worker who confessed to shooting the victim, but he didn't know the details of the murder. The last one was victim's fiancée's mother who had the motive to kill him. But she was seen on traffic cameras heading out from the city at the time of the murder. Plus, the gun found at her home didn't match with the bullets found in victim."

Gates hums in response, deep in thought, crossing her arms on her chest "What do we know about the victim?"

Esposito shuffles with papers in his hand and answers before Beckett can open her mouth. "Victim is 34 year old, caucasian, male. Originally from Republic of Estonia, moved into the city one year ago. He worked as a Consulate advisor till yesterday. It was his first day at a new job - Consulate General of the Estonian Embassy. He was just coming from his meeting at the United Nations when his car got attacked by killer in black. ME's initial report says that he has 23 bullet holes in his body. We haven't yet been able to track down his apartment yet." He looks up for a brief moment only to see four pair of eyes watching him and listening intently. "Um, ah. We were able to speak with his driver at the crime scene. Driver said that he hadn't seen anything weird before the shooting. Only that Kalev had asked him to crank up the cooling system, because it was too hot in the car. And he seemed to have problems with breathing right before the bullets hit him."

Esposito finishes up the story of the victim. There is a silence in the room. Gates takes a step forward to the murder board and sighs, her face is puzzled. "Why does it sound like everyone wanted him dead?" she wonders out loud.

"That is a good question..." Castle finally gathers the courage to open his mouth again. Gates turns her face to look at him. "Uh, umm. As far as we know, he was the 'take all you want, leave nothing behind' type, stirring up problems in his life. He wasn't a good citizen. Made a lot of enemies," he finishes up, moving slowly behind Beckett who is standing now between Gates and him.

"Okay," Gates muses, eyeing her detectives intently. "He had lots of haters. But yet, we haven't found believable suspects yet."

"Sir," Beckett tries to get her attention. "I think we have a next suspect on the horizon." She points to the picture of the older man in the murder board. "Kaarel Voorman, the former consulate general in the embassy."

"Oh?" Gates is surprised.

"Yes." Beckett nods. "He got sick around the time Kalev arrived in New York. We think there might be a possible link between old CG and the new one. Esposito and Ryan are going to visit him."

"We are?" Ryan asks. "Do we have an address?"

Beckett nods and gives them a piece of paper with address written in there. "I just got this from Immigration."

Ryan takes the paper. After glancing the address on it, he gives it to Esposito. Espo nods and says "Okay, we are off then." Both men turn around in unison and head out from the homicide floor, stopping only by their desks to put down the file folders and taking their jackets.

Gates sees them off and nods to Beckett. "Good job so far, Detective. Keep me updated." And with that, she turns around and heads to her office again, her step certain and her posture emanating power.

"Uh... Thank you, Sir." Beckett huffs to her shadow.

When the door to the Captain's office closes, Castle sits down to Beckett's desk again, running both of his hands over his face and huffs out a breath. Beckett smirks watching him do that. She shakes her head picking up the marker she had put down previously at the board. She resumes writing down the information about their new suspect. They are silent for a while. Castle watches her finishing up writing out the details.

When she finally caps the marker and puts it down next to the whiteboard he rises from the table and straightens. He looks at her and asks "You know what?"

Beckett turns herself to him, throwing a questioning look at him.

"We need lunch," he announces.

"Castle, we can't, I am still waiting on Immigration to get back to me about the address of the victim..." she tries to stop him. They really do need to wait for the address. And she is trying to avoid contact with him. She has decided she really doesn't need to know how good his date night was. She tries to get back to her desk and sit down, but she feels a strong grip surrounding her arm.

"No, we are going to have lunch. You have e-mail in your phone too. And you know, you can forward your desk phone to your cell. So we can get the information as soon as it arrives," he doesn't give up and is tugging her to follow him. She gives a half hearted attempt to shrug him off, but gives in.

"Castle", Beckett says as she levels him with a cautionary glance. She shakes her arm loose from his grip and explains "I need to take my coat."

She grabs her coat from her chair and follows her partner who is heading to the elevator. She catches up to him fast. When they enter the elevator, she warns him. "Let's just make it quick. We have a case to solve."

* * *

New York had greeted its residents with a beautiful morning, with many people taking advantage of the nice weather venturing out in Central Park. Esposito and Ryan are cruising close by, Esposito keen to check the address given, Ryan quiet and pensive. This doesn't escape his partner's attention, who is now curious as to why this is.

"So what's up, bro?" Esposito attempts to draw his partner out. Ryan just shrugs and looks out the window to the many joggers and young families leisurely walking by. He starts to fidget a little, and turns to his partner to say something, but turns back, seemingly changing his mind. Esposito decides to wait him out, as he knows Ryan will spill the beans eventually. Gives him five minutes, tops.

Ryan doesn't even last thirty seconds as he clears his throat, "I think I may have screwed up." He continues to look directly out the side window, a worried expression painted over his face.

This wasn't what Esposito was expecting. "Oh? In what way?"

Ryan grimaces, and takes a deep breath, "Well it's Beckett, and Castle, and...well Emily."

"You just figuring out now, it wasn't a good idea?" Esposito is a little amused at his partner's perceived mistake.

"You know, I really want Castle and Beckett to get along, but do you think that will happen if Castle starts dating Emily?"

"Wait. What?" Esposito is startled at the last statement.

"Castle on the date, you know, was the gentleman. Jenny says Emily is very keen to see him again. And let's face it Javi, would you knock down that invitation?"

Esposito pauses for a few moments. His situation with Lanie is still up in the air, but he grudgingly admits, "No, I would definitely take the invite."

"Right. And this is Castle we are talking about. If he and Beckett can't work this out...well then I think the goose is cooked."

Esposito just grunts, as they continue to drive by the side of the park, maintaining a somewhat uncomfortable silence between them. Ryan looks at the address written on the note in his hand, and starts ticking off the street numbers as they pass by. "Turn here, he isn't far down this street."

Esposito turns the car down the side street, taking note of the expensive apartments which line both sides of the street. BMW's and other high end cars are in abundance, and the sidewalks look scrupulously clean, giving the neighborhood a relaxed expansive feel. They finally stop at a magnificent five story complex, the facade on the front of the building a superb Venetian construction. Ryan's and Esposito park outside the entrance and exit the car, and stop on the sidewalk looking up at the building.

"Javi, reckon we could afford a place here one day?"

"I doubt I could even afford a closet here." Esposito and Ryan both laugh and make there way to the front door, where a smartly dressed doorman was in attendance, his red, double breasted overcoat was pristine, every brass button polished to a fine sheen.

"Good morning sirs. Can I help you with anything today?" His manners were exquisite, his voice low and charming.

Esposito pulls out his badge and flashes it at the doorman. "Do you know if Kareel Voorman lives here?"

"Yes he does, although he travels frequently. He has an apartment on the top floor, on the left. He only just arrived this morning, no longer than an hour ago."

"Thanks." Esposito returns the badge to his pocket, as both he and Ryan walk through the revolving front doors. "Looks like we are in luck. Beckett thought we might have missed him." The interior of the foyer is every bit as opulent as the facade suggests, with marble and brass, dominating most fixtures, the carpet a fine, royal blue shag pile.

"Castle would love this place." Ryan chuckles, "It's totally him."

They walk over to the elevator, and notice a security swipe system adjoining near the floor button.

"Take the stairs instead?" asks Ryan.

"Naah, Lets take the elevator anyway". Esposito waves over the doorman, who had been watching them, and now strode over. "You swipe us to the top floor?" he asks.

"Certainly, sir." The doorman pulls out a tiny card from his pocket, and waves it slowly over the security device on the wall. The elevator chimes and the doors slowly open.

"Thanks. Appreciate your help."

"My pleasure." the doorman doffs his hat, and walks back to the entrance, waiting the next resident. Ryan and Esposito step into the elevator, and hit the fifth floor button. The doors slowly close, and the elevator moves silently up.

"Gee, you can barely hear this thing. Compared to the precinct one anyway." Esposito notes to his partner. Ryan smiles and patiently awaits the arrival to the fifth floor. The elevator stops, and chimes again, and the doors open to another small lobby. "Well it's the apartment on the left, so we are told." They make their way down the corridor, and hear something heavy drop to the floor, just around the corner of the passageway.

Both Ryan and Esposito slow down, and look at each other, Esposito holding his hands out in caution, no words really necessary. Ryan loosens his gun in its holster as he peeks around the corner. A tall blonde muscular man is depositing various suitcases outside the hallway, and disappearing through an adjacent door. Ryan nods to his partner, who sneaks a look around the corner for himself. Esposito looks back to Ryan, and they silently head down the corridor, the man unaware the two detectives are approaching behind him.

"NYPD. We have some questions for you." Ryan words freezes the man, who pauses momentarily, looks warily at the detectives, and on instinct, starts to reach inside his jacket.

"Nuh uh. Hands away." Esposito had already drawn his gun, and now had it trained on the tall man in front of him. The moment seemed to have lasted an hour, but in reality only a couple of seconds had passed, as the tall blonde eyes them both, still frozen in place.

"Igor, kes seal on (_who is there)_?" The tension is broken by a new voice, from inside the apartment. A short older man steps out from the doorway, curious as to the disturbance in the corridor. Seeing Igor hasn't moved, he looks down the hallway, and sees Ryan and Esposito, both with guns drawn at Igor. "Oh it's the police. How can I help you officers?"

It is Esposito who is first to respond. "Kaarel Voorman?"

"Yes. That is correct. Is there a problem?" Kaarel then notices Igor's hand is still reaching towards the gun in his jacket. "Igor, relax, would you. These are friends." His bodyguard breathes deeply, straightens and assumes a more casual pose, his arms now crossed across his chest, well away from his holstered gun. Kaarel looks apologetic, "I am sorry. he is very protective of me. Overtraining, perhaps."

"Going somewhere?" Esposito asks the former Consulate General, noticing the short balding man, with light grey hair, a beautifully tailored dark suit, and unusually, wearing mirrored sunglasses indoors.

"Yes. I am heading back to my homeland tonight. Looking forward to a quiet retirement." Kaarel's voice was calm and collected, already displaying that he was a consummate diplomat.

"Well we have a few questions for you, before you leave us."

"Oh. In relation to what?" Kaarel only looks slightly surprised, his face giving almost nothing away.

Esposito responds, "We need you to answer some questions about the murder of your successor, Kalev Järvesoo."

* * *

**A/N: I am so sorry, guys, that you had to wait the update for so long. But it seems that the month of October has brought a lot of things to do for both of us, and we haven't been able to update so frequently. Don't worry, we really want to finish this case, it's so interesting. But it will take time. Since both me and Brett are going to the Castle Con this year, it may leave a hole in the posting rhythm again. But hopefully we can manage post as much as we can. And these days – Brett is busy with his work, as am I. I hope you can forgive us, guyse. We will try to do our best to bring this story to you, dears!**

**Thanks for lv2bnsb and kimmiesjoy for being such an awesome editors! And thanks for raving reviews guys. Love em!**


	11. Chapter 11

Kaarel's apartment was every bit as opulent as the address indicated. Both Ryan and Esposito stopped inside the door momentarily, admiring the grandeur. The polished floor boards were covered with fine deep red rugs scattered about the living room and Italian crafted chairs and a dining table stood on one side. The walls were inlaid with mother of pearl, a golden pattern woven from ceiling to floor. Exposed timber beams ran the length of the room with chandeliers hanging around the apartment, giving a soft, warm glow. Stacked near the entry, was a great many more boxes and suitcases, adding to the number already in the hallway outside.

"OK. Now I know we are definitely in the wrong job," Ryan notes quietly to his partner. "So, this place or Castle's?"

"Hmm tough choice, but Castle has an Xbox. But unless I take up armed robbery, I don't think choosing is going to be a problem any time soon," Esposito murmurs and follows the Estonian.

"Please come in," Kaarel indicates they should sit on one of the comfortable couches near the middle of the apartment. Ryan and Esposito seat themselves with Kaarel taking his place opposite them.

Esposito glances around the apartment, "This all yours?"

Kaarel laughs as he gestures around the room, "No, some of the art and trinkets lying around, but the consulate owns this place. It was a nice perk of the job."

"And what happens to this place once you have gone?"

"The current Consular general will move in, Kalev... well whoever it will be," Ryan and Esposito both look at each other with raised eyebrows at this revelation. Kaarel's expression darkens slightly. "I know what you are thinking detectives. You think I wanted Kalev out of the way? Well nothing could be further from the truth. I was ready to retire. I haven't been well."

Ryan looks closely at Kaarel, noting his pale complexion, and a slight shake in his left hand. He still wore the dark sunglasses. "Some problem with your eyes, if I can ask?"

"Oh the glasses? Yes, any bright light irritates the eyes, a symptom of old age, I guess." Kaarel's answer is polished but rehearsed. There was something he wasn't telling them. For the moment though, Ryan drops the line of questioning.

"So may we ask what is wrong with you, health wise?" Esposito looks the man intently now.

Kaarel pauses a moment, looking at both detectives, "It is a private matter, and of no importance, and that's all I'll say about that." His tone shows he would brook no further comment on the issue.

Ryan tries a different tact. "Your friend Peeter seemed most concerned for you. Very protective. So much so, that we had a hard time finding this address. The Consulate wasn't very forthcoming either."

A smile grows on Kaarel's face. "Ahh, Peeter, he is a loyal and good friend. Always was a little over-protective of me."

Esposito pipes in, "Yes he is, isn't he. He confessed to the murder of Kalev."

This revelation stuns both Kaarel and his bodyguard, Igor, who had wandered over to stand behind his boss. "Peeter? That's preposterous!" cries Kaarel. "He wouldn't hurt a fly!"

Ryan and Esposito let Kaarel stew for a moment. Ryan breaks the silence, "Well in truth he wouldn't either. We released him this morning." Kaarel breathed out an audible sigh.

Ryan continues though. "However the real question is why would he confess to the crime he didn't commit? To cover someone else's tracks?"

"Well I have no idea why he would do such a thing. It's plain ludicrous." Kaarel is either genuinely shocked or had perfected the art of hiding the truth through years of diplomatic practise. Of which, both Ryan and Esposito can't tell.

"And what was the nature of your relationship with Peeter?" says Ryan.

"Well if you have interviewed him, I think you are very well aware of the exact nature of our relationship. Yes, we were lovers. There is no crime against that," Kaarel spits out the last sentence, not liking the direction the conversation had turned.

Ryan looks over to Esposito, who is unobtrusively inspecting the bodyguard, casually leaning back in his chair, letting his partner run with the questions. "So no idea at all why Peeter would confess?"

"None at all, as I have said." Kaarel has largely regained most of his composure and is taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"Where were you yesterday morning, from 9:30am to 12:30pm?"

"I was here packing my belongings. Ask Igor, we didn't leave the apartment at all." Kaarel turns to Igor, giving him a hard look. Igor pauses only a moment before nodding in agreement.

"Any other witnesses?" asks Ryan

"I am sorry detective. It was only Igor and I."

"What can you tell us about Kalev, you successor? How would you describe him?"

Kaarel clasps his hands together, pursing his lips, deciding what to tell them. "Well personally I hated him. Very polite to your face, but in reality he was a back stabbing weasel with no morals or ethics. No character to speak of and his blind ambition drove most he knew, to hate him as well." He pauses for effect. "My guess is that you already know this fact. He was not a popular person."

"So we gathered," replies Ryan. "Do you know anyone who would want to kill him?"

"Well even though the list of enemies is long, I can't hazard to guess anyone mad enough to kill him." Kaarel stands up from his chair. "Now, are there any other questions?"

Esposito smiles and replies, "No, not at the moment. Thank you for your time." With that he glances at Ryan and nods towards the door, indicating that they should go. As Ryan and Esposito walk past the bodyguard, Esposito slows his pace slightly, as if he is sizing Igor up. A small smirk appears on his face, barely noticeable to anyone, bar his partner.

On exiting the apartment, Ryan turns to his partner. "OK. What is it about Igor that is bothering you?"

"Did you saw the firearm he was carrying?" he asks from Ryan. The Irish detective nods. Esposito continues "At a guess, I would say it would be the same caliber of gun that shot Kalev. What we really need right now, is a warrant."

* * *

Moonstruck Diner at the end of the street is the perfect place for lunch. Or so Castle had decided. He practically dragged her through the streets to this little place. It was the usual place for the uniforms to get a snack and a cup of coffee. At this time of the day, the diner is half empty and there was a lot of room for them to sit.

They headed to the corner booth in the back room which gave them a lot of privacy. Castle smiled to the waitress who had appeared almost immediately. After quick consideration, they gave their orders and the girl left, leaving them in uncomfortable silence.

"So..." Castle starts, trying to find a safe topic to discuss. Kate seems to be really edgy and he decides it's not a good idea to start poking her. Well, just not yet. He has never been good at keeping away from her business. He looks at her and he forgets what he wanted to say. She looks tired and fidgety, shifting herself in her seat almost constantly. Plus she is avoiding direct eye contact with him. When he doesn't finish his sentence, she does look up at him.

"Soo, What, Castle?" Kate asks him impatiently, her voice sharp.

"So... what's our next step?" he asks, boring his eyes to hers. _Nice Castle, neutral topic, so far, so good._

"I … um..." she stutters a bit beneath his intense gaze. "We need to wait for the address to come through. And... then go find the apartment..."

"Yeah?" he asks over.

"Yeah," she mutters and throws a questioning look at him and snaps. "You have been on enough investigations, you should know that by now. What's gotten into you?".

"Nothing, nothing," he tries to reassure, smiling weakly. "I was just checking if I was right."

Beckett looks at him with suspicion, her eyes squinting and trying to map the surface of his face. Castle is acting weird around her today. She silently wonders what's up with him. Was the date really that good? And he doesn't want to spend time with her anymore? Hmm? Why did he drag her to the lunch then if he is so uncomfortable?

She sighs out loud. He looks at her for a moment, question in his eyes. But when their eyes meet, he tries to smile at her reassuringly.

She smiles back a weak smile. Surprising herself, Beckett decides to tackle the uncomfortable topic, she opens her mouth and asks, "So... how was your date?"

The smile slowly disappears from his face and for a moment, surprise runs through his features until confusion settles there. He breathes in sharply and turns so he is facing her fully.

"It went well," he smiles, again. But the joy doesn't reach to his eyes.

"Well?" Beckett is confused, "Only well?"

"Yeah," his answer is short. He really doesn't want to elaborate, especially with her. She doesn't need to know how he missed her constantly while he was out with Emily. Yes. The girl was gorgeous and pretty and smart. But she wasn't Kate Beckett. No one can ever compare to the enigma that is Kate.

She is looking at him intently, questions in her mind. He can feel her being uncomfortable, but yet curious.

"For a writer, you are in severe lack of words today," Kate mocks him.

Castle smirks, trying to get back to his usual state.

With a little twinkle in his eye, he decides that two can play the game.

"Well, to be honest, I really enjoyed myself yesterday. Emily is a really great companion. And she has a very wicked sense of humour."

"Oh, okay," Kate face drops slightly. He doesn't leave it unnoticed. Point for Castle.

"And the musical we went to see was very amusing too. I think I haven't laughed that hard for a really long time. Ah, that reminds me, I need to send Jenny a message."

Kate is sitting silently opposite of him. He stirs inattentively her coffee with a little spoon. Deep in thought, she raises the cup to her lips and takes a sip. Castle is hurriedly writing a message with his phone. He finishes it off and hits send. Then he raises his glance and observes her in silence, his eyes raking over a beautiful face which is currently formed into her "thinking face".

Right at that moment, the phone in his hands beeps loudly, startling them both out of their thoughts. Kate raises her eyes to him, only to see him staring at her.

"What?" she asks.

"I,... uh... nothing," he finally comes up with an answer. While blushing a bit, he averts his attention back to the phone in his hand.

_***Message from Emily***_

He smiles when he reads that. Quickly unlocking his phone he skims over the message and smiles widely.

"Heh, speak of the devil," he hums.

"Huh?" Kate doesn't really follow his train of thoughts.

"Just got a message from Emily," he explains.

"Oh," she says. There's a pregnant pause. She is doing it again. Not asking really loudly. He smirks inwardly, because he is aware that she wants to know what was in the message. But she would never ask. _Oh, Kate, you stubborn human being._

"She just wanted me to know that she enjoyed our evening together and she'd like to meet again," he shares, getting his attention back to his phone.

"Oh, I see," Kate answers again, not knowing really what to say. A pang of jealousy hits her like a truck, leaving her breathless. He doesn't notice the change in her. He is eyeing his phone and doesn't see her shifting on her seat.

She has been feeling the change in their relationship for months now. Drifting slowly closer to him, opening up to him, falling in love with him again and again. And just when she thought that … she has enough courage to act on it, something happens. It's like Murphy's law. When you really want something, you really can't get it.

She takes in another shuddering breath. Tries to breathe normally. But she can't. She feels like there is something stuck in her chest and she can't cough it out. Damn those emotions.

Just then Castle stops fiddling with his phone and raises it to his ear. She throws him a questioning look, but he doesn't answer her. She hears somebody picking up on the other end.

"Heey, Emily!" he beams to his phone. "I just got your message. Yes. Yes, I know. Heheee. No, I think it will be fine. Yeah, I absolutely agree. Hahaa. I think it would be a good idea. Okay. See you there. Bye."

He is still smiling when he ends the call. He closes his phone and looks at the woman sitting in front of him. His smile fades slowly. She is serious and now he realizes how uncomfortable she really is.

"Another date with Emily?" she asks softly, trying to tune back the sharpness of her voice that she feels is there.

"Well, something like that," he nods nonchalantly, seemingly happy. He takes a fork from his plate and resumes his lunch that was interrupted by the message.

Kate makes a snap decision. She has had enough. Placing her fork back to the plate with a loud clink, she leans back and pushes the food away from her.

"I am not hungry anymore," she explains to his inquiring look. "I think I should head back to precinct."

"Come on," he tries to make her change her mind, "You have barely eaten!"

"I don't want to eat anymore. I just want to go back to the precinct." she sighs, standing up from her seat.

"Beckett, just eat your lunch, we are going back right away," Castle tries again, raising his voice slightly.

"Don't tell me what to do, Castle. I don't want to eat." Becket dismisses him and turns herself around.

"Kate!" he stands up and tries to reason with her.

"Castle, stop. I said I don't want to eat. Finish off your lunch and go to your date, I don't really care. I have a job to do," she snaps at him.

Ah. There's the reason why she is upset.

"Kate, just come back, if it upsets you, I can call her back and cancel," he tries one last time. He knows he will be blowing his cover with that, but who cares anymore? He clearly has gone too far with this dance.

Beckett turns herself around again, to face him. She shoves a finger to his chest and hisses. "I don't care, Castle, I don't care what you do or not do. I don't give a damn."

With that, she turns fast, her hair flowing in the air. Without blinking an eye, she is already out of the diner, leaving him wordless and breathless.

* * *

**A/N: There ya go, another update. We really hope you do like it too. But I have a little bit of request from you guys, all of you who read this fiction. Maybe you could cheer us up with some reviews. I have noticed a growth in the viewership, but the reviews go lesser and lesser. Maybe, if you read, just drop few words for us. We would be so grateful. Honestly! We love reviews like kid likes candy. Hee hee.**

**Thank you all who have subscribed to our story. You rock. Also … *hugs* to all who have reviewed the story. You are even more awesome.**

**Kimmiesjoy & lv2bnsb …. Both of my awesome betas. They deserve a big hug too!**


	12. Chapter 12

He throws cash to the counter, before he makes his way out of the diner.

It takes him some time to get out of this darn establishment. The stools are in his way, then the pair who walk in from the street stop him from exiting the diner. How the hell did she manage to leave so fast?

Finally he is out of the door. He turns his head left and right, trying to see her amongst the pedestrians, but he cannot find her. Where is she? Where the hell is she? He frantically eyes the crowd surrounding him, looking in both directions, but nothing. He takes few steps towards the direction they had come before.

Then he spots her. She is crossing the street in hurried pace, her blue jacket flapping in the soft wind.

He darts towards her, trying to catch up with her. "Kate!" he yells over the crowd.

She isn't reacting. She doesn't hear him or she pretends not to hear him.

He crosses the street without looking anywhere else but her. He is so focused on her, he doesn't see the car closing in on him. The driver stops the car just before it hits him. He places his hands to the car, to pass it quicker, completely ignoring the driver yelling "Fuck you" towards him. He doesn't care about the driver or the car. He doesn't take time to respond, has a singular purpose - to catch up Kate.

"Kate!" he tries again, running towards her. This time he is much closer to her. He sees her jerk in response to his voice and fastening her pace. She's trying to get away from him.

He is almost caught up with her, only a dozen of feet separating them. There are people in the way everywhere. What is going on in this street, why so many people? He lets out a frustrated grunt and tries to zigzag between the pedestrians.

He yells out again, "Kate, wait up!"

She continues to ignore him and walks faster.

He doesn't give up and runs towards her until he's there, right beside her. He grabs her arm and yanks her to a halt.

Beckett sighs out annoyedly and tries to get back her arm by jerking it sharply from his grasp. But he's grip is strong and she doesn't succeed.

"Castle," she presses through her teeth, her voice sounding angry. "Let me go."

"No," he answers sternly, his face serious. She is still facing the direction she was going, not looking at him at all. Her face is hidden behind the brown locks, so he doesn't see her features.

"Castle..." she warns him, voice low.

"No," his voice is still certain. He shifts in his spot, trying to get better grasp at her. "Not until we talk." He tugs her arm so that she faces him now. She doesn't look up.

"I don't want to talk," she spits out, trying to pull her free again.

"I am not letting you go," he punctuates every word, bringing his other hand to her shoulder, to hold in her at place.

She stops struggling and finally raises her glance to him. She is furious as hell, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. She is mad, angry. She can't hold off the tears of frustration. Their eyes meet. Her angry glance crosses paths with his silver blue eyes that are filled with all the worry and concern... and guilt.

Just as she opens her mouth to yell at him again, he decides enough is enough and yanks her arm hard and she falls against his chest. It takes a moment and his hands are around her, locking her in place.

"Castle, wha-"

He drowns her further arguments with his mouth on hers. One of his arms securely holding her head in place, he tugs her even closer with his other arm around her waist. She resists, trying to wiggle free. But he doesn't give her a chance to escape. His lips slide roughly against hers, making her halt her actions and shiver runs down her spine. The friction is enough to make her stop resisting. She opens her mouth slightly to say something, but he takes it as a permission to deepen the kiss and he introduces the tongue in this equation.

She can't do anything else but cling on him, because her senses are going into overdrive. His mouth is warm and strong against hers. Without any conscious thought, she melts within his embrace and answers his actions with the same kind of intensity and passion. Flesh against flesh, tongue against tongue, they move as one. Their tongues fighting for dominance, she feels the anger leave her. Only thing remaining is the feel of him against her, making her shivering and moaning with only his lips and his hands.

Finally, they have to breathe. He slows their actions down gradually and they both surface to breathe. Not letting her go, he rests his forehead on hers. They are both gasping, trying to fill their lungs with sweet air again.

He looks down at her. Her eyes are still closed and mouth slightly open to get her breathing to normal again. He can't resist and he closes the distance between them again, placing a soft kiss on her lips. Tender and reassuring. He pulls back again and observes her again.

She finally opens her eyes. Their glances meet - hazel against deep blue. He smiles reassuringly. .

"Please don't run," he asks softly.

She draws in a deep breath and opens her mouth "I..." She stops. She doesn't know how to continue. She had a reason for running, didn't she?

He pulls her in for a hug, her body resting against his. His cheek touching hers, he presses his mouth against her ear. "I don't have a date with Emily," he whispers.

She stills against him. She doesn't say anything, but neither is she trying to pull herself loose. He takes it as a good sign and he continues.

"I know you care, Kate. You care too much. That's why I don't have a date with Emily," he explains, whispering into her ear.

She is still silent in his embrace. She doesn't know how to answer.

He continues without her response, his hand drawing soft circles in her back. "Emily is nice. But she has no chance when it comes to you. I like you more," he stops there, sighing deeply. "Much, much, much more. You don't need to be jealous."

She chuckles into his shoulder softly, where her mouth is buried. Her hands around him tighten and she shakes her head.

"I am not jealous," she says, trying to lose the softness in her voice, making her voice sharper.

He snorts at her reaction. Of course. She's never jealous. What was the entire scene about then? He doesn't say anything but moves away from her ear and brings his mouth to meet hers again. He kisses her languidly, softly, until she is out of breath again.

"Of course not," he speaks against her lips. "You are never jealous."

He pulls away and looks at her, smiling brightly. She opens her eyes and looks at him, his smile makes the corners of her mouth to rise.

"If you weren't jealous, why did you run out of the diner?" he asks softly.

She smirks now, her eyes mischievous. "I wasn't hungry?"

"Uh- uh," he nods. "That's what I thought."

They just stand there, in the middle of the walkway and looking at each other. Energy coursing between them as they drown in each other's eyes. He leans closer, slowly but surely, opening his mouth slightly. She closes her eyes, unable to resist him anymore.

Suddenly her phone chirps, ruining the crackling flow of emotions. She opens her eyes, searching for his glance. Her hand untangles itself from his back and reaches for the pocket.

He instinctively makes room between them, breaking their embrace. He doesn't step away, he can't. He needs her there in his arms. He needs to be able to touch her.

She finds her phone and pulls it out of the pocket. Sliding her thumb against the screen, she unlocks the phone and reads the message.

Smiling, she looks up at him. "We got the address. Let's go"

He nods and lets her go. She steps away from his embrace and they start walking down the street in unison. As Kate had an head start, she stepping in front of him. He tries to catch up with her. After few steps he is beside her. She turns her face to him and smiles.

* * *

A fresh breeze whistles through the trees of Central Park, around the massive oaks scattered on the edges and passes by a unmarked police car parked near a mobile hot dog stand. The two detectives exit the vehicle, one pulling out his wallet, checking the change he has with him. They saunter up to a large Indian man, dressed casually in jeans and a light shirt, a dark colored turban covering his head, and a beaming smile on his face.

"Good day gentlemen. Can I offer you both the finest hot dog in New York?" Both detectives smile and chuckle at the vendor's open enthusiasm.

"Gee Najib, it's just a hot dog. It's not a five star meal," Esposito states, smiling back at the Indian man.

Najib mockingly places his hands across his chest in shock. "Why Detective Esposito, you wound me. This is the finest food you will find anywhere in New York."

"My apologies, Najib. Hand us two of your finest dogs then," the cop chuckles.

"Of course. The usual, Detective Esposito?" Esposito nods to him. "And you, Detective Ryan? The usual as well?"

"Yes my good man, the usual." Ryan smiles at Najib, as he happily prepares a couple of chilli dogs for them both. He looks over to his partner, and asks, "So what is your gut feel, Javi. Think Kaarel is involved?"

Esposito pauses for a moment, looking down at the ground. "Well he isn't telling us the whole story. He is definitely hiding something. He may have arranged the bodyguard to shoot him for all we know."

Ryan nods his head slightly, in agreement. "Let's hope that Beckett has something on him soon."

Najib quickly makes the chilli dogs and cheerfully hands them over. Ryan pays for them, and they both amble back to the car. They lean against the hood of the car and start eating their dogs.

Esposito didn't quite realize how hungry he was. "You know, Najib may be right. This might be the best food in New York."

Ryan looks at his partner and smiles to himself as his partner is absorbed in his lunch. He, though, had other things on his mind.

"So, Javi, think Castle and Beckett will work it out?" Ryan asks aloud.

Esposito glances at his partner, noting that this was a serious question. He is about to make light of the situation and tease his partner once more but decides that maybe this time was past.

"Well, I don't know man. Like I told you, she was pretty upset yesterday. She tries to hide it, but like I said, she seemed pretty down." He brushed a few crumbs off his shirt, waiting to hear from his partner.

Ryan though remains silent, just a looking down at nothing, deep in thought. "I mean look at Emily. Now that girl is hard to pass up. Seriously. She is as lovely as my Jenny."

Esposito rolls his eyes, "Oh please, it is sickening the way you look at each other. Almost embarrassing."

Ryan just smiles, not being in the least bit embarrassed with relationship he has.

Esposito continues, "But I am not sure Beckett will give up that easily."

Ryan looks at Esposito with a little surprise. "You really think so?"

Esposito looks at him like that was the stupidest comment in the world.

A small grin comes across Ryan's face. "Well I don't know, Javi. I mean the double date went well and we both know what Castle's history is with a pretty face. Think Castle could resist that?"

"For Beckett? In a heartbeat," Esposito stops chewing the chilli dog and thinks about what he just said. "I mean if Castle had to choose between Emily and Beckett..." He pauses for a few more seconds, and then shook his head. "No, Castle and Beckett have been playing around the edges for a while. I think Beckett..."

To Ryan, it sounds like Esposito was trying to convince himself. He chuckles silently to himself, sensing he could take advantage of his Esposito's wavering opinion. "Well, I don't know Javi. Think Castle can suppress his urges with Emily?"

The bait had been set.

"Well, personally I don't think Beckett is going to let Castle ride off into the sunset without a fight," Esposito says with a certainty in his voice looking intently at Ryan.

"I smell a bet coming on. Ok, my money's on Castle is with Emily before the week is out," Ryan thinks to himself. _H__ook, line and sinker__._

Esposito's face is beaming now. "Ok, but it is lunches for a week. Deal?"

"You're on." The detectives join their hand and shake on it. Finally they sit back and relax, eating their chilli dogs watching their fellow New Yorkers enjoy the pleasant day in Central Park.

They are interrupted by Ryan's phone ringing in his inside coat pocket. He finishes his mouthful, wipes his hand on a serviette and grabs the phone.

"Ryan," he barks to his phone.

* * *

**Here it is then, our next chapter. We know, it's a long time coming. We are sorry about that. But … Brett is having fun with his friends in US and Trinxy is slowly preparing herself for her trip to LA, so … we both are busy. **

**We really hope to update this in next few weeks, but don't be mad at us if we can't. We both have crazy holidays coming, so, we are not sure how much free time we both have. So … Apologies, darlings. **

**We hope you like this chapter tho. Please let us know if you do. Hungry or reviews! Heee heee.**

**Thans lv2bnsb and kimmiesjoy for being awesome betas**!


	13. Chapter 13

The ride to the apartment seems too long. He wants to ask her millions of things, but every time he opens his mouth to bring up the topic, something happens. First, it's a call to the precinct. Then she has to call the boys, to let them know where they are, then a traffic jam that makes her all wired up. And snappy. Not that it's bad. He _likes_ her when she is all annoyed and cursing at the drivers.

When they finally arrive in front of the small building downtown, he still hasn't said anything. He keeps silent when they enter the building. He is itching to just open his mouth and ask her. _What it all means, what to do_? _Did he finally do something right? Or this is going to blow up in his face? _His worrying mind is racing at full speed.

He sighs. There is a time and place, he reminds himself. Time and place for everything.

They arrive at the apartment building. The house looks old, but it's in good condition.

The deep red shade of the staircase is overwhelming at first, but by the time they arrive to the third floor, Castle decides he likes it.

Sliding the key she got from the landlord in the lock, she opens the door to Kalev's apartment. The door opens with soft creak and she steps into the tiny apartment. She tentatively steps inside, looking around, Castle at her heels. She fishes out purple gloves from her deep jacket pockets and gives the other pair to Castle.

The place looks like it had been hit by a hurricane. The clothes are lying in everywhere, his things are scattered around on all surfaces. Castle slides his fingers along the surface of one of the bookcases that lean against the light walls. Yellow shade of walls gives the illusion that the apartment is bigger than it is and the lack of furniture supports this as well

"Ugh, it's messy in here," he wrinkles his nose and raises one of his fingers to Beckett. His fingers are covered with grayish dust. Kate shakes her head in amusement and steps deeper into the apartment. Kalev seemed to have a really messy life in his little apartment.

"What are we looking for?" Castle asks, eyeing the books and documents in the bookcases.

"Anything that may be out of place," comes the short answer from Beckett, who is slowly making her way through the office area. Or what should be an office area.

Castle snorts. "Out of place?" he asks, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I think this whole apartment is out of place." He steps away from the bookcase and lets his eyes slide over the small apartment for the second time. "For a guy like him, I thought he would be a neat freak."

"Castle," she sighs, shifting through the papers on his desk. "Have you found anything yet?"

"Nothing important," he mumbles, relocating the victim's clothes with two of his fingers. Beckett eyes him with amusement and can't really suppress the smile that creeps onto her face. She unconsciously observes him. He is sifting through the pile of clothes in hope of find something on the sofa underneath the garments. He doesn't want to touch the clothes, so he is using only two of his fingers and making disgusted faces.

The bubble of laughter wants to surface within her, but she can't let it out.

She feels lighter than before, her heart still fluttering in her chest. The kiss they shared is still in her thoughts. She can't put it out of her mind no matter how hard she tries. It felt good, oh so good. She closes her eyes in memory of his lips sliding against her.

"Beckett?" she hears Castle's confused voice. She opens her eyes only to look at the face of his partner. He has come closer to the table and seems worried. "You okay?"

She looks down as she feels a blush creeping on her cheeks. She smiles and mumbles "Yes."

"Uhm, why...?" he trails off. He sees the blush on her face. She must have been thinking of something...

_Oh._.. "Nevermind..." he finally mumbles out. _She... was thinking... about the kiss?_ The blush looks just too adorable on her and he can't turn his head away.

She finally raises her eyes to look at him. He is staring back at her and he can feel the electricity again when their gazes cross. Power surges through his heart and suddenly it's beating fast.

After the kiss they shared, he can't seem to be able to look at her without this rush of new and incredible feelings. Especially now that he knows how she tastes, what noise she makes. Or how good she feels against him.

But... time and place, he reminds himself. Time and place.

He disrupts the flowing energy with a cough. Beckett's gaze slides off his features and she tries to find something to occupy her hands.

There is a silence in the room. Awkward silence for a moment. He breathes in deeply, cursing in his mind that he interrupted the moment between them. He should have gone for it, but instead he was a good boy and thought about the consequences.

She dares to breathe in too. For a few incredible seconds she was sure that Castle will come and kiss her. If only their intense gaze would have lasted longer. But he had to interrupt it. _Why? Is... this somehow still... to do with Emily? Has he...?_

He is just turning his head to the bookcase next to the kitchen door when he hears her question.

"Why are you not going to your date with Emily?"

He stops on his tracks. Turns around to face her. She is looking at him now, shy and tentative, looking like she is afraid of his answer._ Oh Kate. _

He takes few steps closer to her and stops in front of her again. She is staring at his chest, not daring to look up yet. He extends his arm and catches her fingers with his palm. He squeezes her hand gently.

"There was no date in the first place, Kate," he confesses, looking at her, searching for her eyes. She raises her gaze to meet his. She is utterly confused now, her brows knit up, questions beam from her eyes.

"What?" she asks, surprise peeking through her voice.

Castle sighs. She must know now. He has utterly messed this up. He needs to make amends. Now. He breaks their gaze and looks down.

"She didn't call about the date, today. She called me to ask if I could help to throw a surprise party for Kevin."

"Oh," she breathes out. She looks relieved for a second, smile flashing for a second. But then she realizes something else. He mouth falls open in surprise.

When he meets her gaze again, she squints her eyes and accuses "So, you were lying in the diner?"

_Uh oh, trouble ahead. _He opens his mouth to say something to his defense, but cannot form a sentence at the moment. Her stare gets more intense and for a moment he feels the urge to flee.

"I...I wouldn't put it like that..." he tries to defend himself, taking an unconscious step backwards.

She shoves a finger to his chest. "You were lying... for what? You wanted to make me jealous?"

She can't believe he actually did it. She can't believe that it actually _worked_. He made her feel totally jealous... Over nothing.

"You..." she wants to throw something at him. _Anything._

He backs off from her reach and smiles to her. He catches her wrist when his hand comes for a second shove into his abs. He stops her, his empty hand reaching for her other arm. He manages to grin at her when she throws furious glance at him.

"But it worked," he grins like a Cheshire cat. It _totally _worked.

She tries to wiggle out from his grasp, but he is holding her tightly, his strong surrounding her. In his tight embrace she is all worked up now, her eyes shooting fire and daggers. She is mad at him for lying. For making her feel like that. But, she is madder at herself - she let him get under her skin.

"Castle..." she tries to sound authoritative but fails.

"Nuh, uh, you are not going anywhere," is the only answer from him and he tries to pull her even closer.

_Oh no, he is not getting away with that._ She tries to wiggle more, she isn't going to give up that easily. He thinks he is clever, but that stunt he pulled, it was enough.

"Castle," she tries again, when his face comes closer and closer to hers. She sounds breathy. Her actions calm down and she stops wigging. She doesn't look into his eyes, because she knows if she does look, she will stop resisting. His blue eyes have always the power to break her, make her breathless and make her feel loved at the same time. She looks away from his face, averting her eyes elsewhere.

And that's when she sees it. Silvery shiny object peeks under the ugly yellow sweatshirt. Bingo!

His face is almost touching hers in anticipation of another kiss when she sharply turns her face back to him again. Her cheek collides with his and he whispers "Ouch."

"Castle," she tries for the third time, now her voice begging for attention. "The computer!"

_What!? _

"Um, what?" he asks confusedly, opening his eyes.

She pulls her arms free from his grasp now when his attention is elsewhere.

She points at the shiny object underneath the clothes. "Computer."

_Oh, that's what she means_. He let's her go completely, releasing her from his embrace. She turns around and takes few hurried steps towards the computer. He follows her closely.

The computer powers up and opens with no problems. From there, it's too easy to access to his files. The look through several folders but so far nothing. Nothing that could point to his shady deals or his potential killer.

She sighs. She was hoping to get at least something. And now nothing.

Suddenly Castle remembers the piece of paper they found in victim's pocket. His face beams of excitement as he turns the computer to his direction and opens the browser. He types in the IP from the paper and follows with the password. The directory opens with no problems.

"We got in!" he exhales excitedly.

"Nice work," she beams a smile to him and turns computer back to her.

They both turn their attention back to the computer. She opens a few files in the browser and they start reading the first document. Their mouths fall open in unison.

"Son of a..." Castle starts while gazing the screen.

"Yeah," Beckett finishes, "We need to call Esposito and Ryan, _now._"

* * *

Ryan is driving back to the precinct, his partner too busy devouring another hot dog beside him to take the reigns of the wheel. He looks over at his partner with a hint of amusement.

"You know your diet is terrible. Seriously, do you ever eat anything remotely healthy?"

Esposito merely grunts, "And this coming from a guy who drank juice for a week before he was married. I am in prime shape. Don't knock the muscle of this dynamic duo."

Ryan laughs at his friend's good humour. "By that admission, I am the brains of the outfit?"

"Pfft, you wish" he muffles out swallowing another bite of his hot dog and chuckles along with his friend.

They are interrupted by a call on Esposito's phone. He pulls the phone from his jacket, checking the caller ID.

"It's Beckett again."

Ryan watches his partner as he hits the answer button, noting his expression suddenly change from curiosity to deadly serious. "Yeah...OK. Got it. Heading there now."

He puts the phone back in his pocket and says, "About face bro. We are heading straight back to the CG's."

Ryan does a quick u-turn on the road and heads back towards the park. "So it is the Consulate General? They have a tip?"

"Possibly. Castle and Beckett managed to read Kalev's computer files. She didn't tell me much else, other than to pick both him and the bodyguard up."

"The bodyguard? Hmmm." Ryan thinks back to the earlier incident where Igor initially saw them both as a threat. His size and professionalism suggested hinted he knew how to use his firearm. He was lean and muscular, and most probably very agile despite his bulk. Not a man to take lightly.

"You thinking what I am thinking?" Esposito asks, pulling his gun out, checking the clip.

Ryan nods "I think so. This could be an interesting day."

"Hey Kevin, lets not play around here. This guy looks ex-military. A dangerous man. We'll get him cuffed quickly and then take care of the CG."

Ryan merely nods in agreement again and weaves through the traffic, travelling alongside the park and turns back into the side street where they were not half an hour before. They cruise slowly up the apartment block, housing Kaarel's place and park just outside the front entrance.

"Ready?" Kevin unstraps himself, and opens his door.

Esposito is already out of the car, gun in his hands, "Yep, lets do this."

* * *

_**This is it, guys. Next chapter. We hope you guys like it. We are so so so so sorry that we haven't updated in weeks. But both of us were in vacation in Los Angeles, attending the Castle Converntion 2012. During those weeks, neither of us didn't have ANY time to write at all. But now we are back and trying to tie this fic up. Hopefully it won't be long anymore. **_

_**Let us know what do you think of the fic. Where this is going. Who do you think the killer is? Is there any more twists coming? How do you like the fic so far? Is it too messy, too complicated… OR too easy for you? Tee hee. Im just kidding. Send us some reviews. We like them VERY very much! **_

_**Thank you for reading, folks, I really do love it when you read our stuff. Thanks for Kimmiesjoy & lv2bnsb for betaing! **_


	14. Chapter 14

_**Sorry for the long delay, dear readers. Brett & I have been extremely busy with the holidays coming. He got a promotion (cheers) and I have been just busy. Thank you for reading, that you are still with us, with the crazy story. This has been my first case based fiction so far and I am so glad to have Brett as a writing partner. He knows how to spin a story. **_

_**Also, thank you all who have been reading. And reviewing. You are all tooo awesome. I love you all! Please continue to be awesome as ever, kay? Shena & lv2bnsb – owe ya big!**_

_**Ok, right. Lets get to the writing part then.**_

* * *

Ryan and Esposito walk up to the front of the apartment block, dutifully manned by the same doorman they met earlier. He looks at the detectives, mild surprise showing on his face.

"Back so soon?" he politely asks them both.

Esposito and Ryan walk straight past him, barely glancing at the doorman, their minds all business.

"Yep, Kaarel just loved our company..." Esposito mumbles under his breath, the doorman only just catching it before they hit the stairs. Deciding against the elevator, they quickly ascend four flights of stairs, arriving on the fifth floor. They both stop at the top of the stairs, unholster their weapons, and check their clips and safety catch. Ryan takes a deep breath and turns to his partner:

"Ready?"

"I was born ready," Esposito takes the lead and warily treads down the corridor past the elevator, towards the corner of the hallway. Ryan follows close behind - with a smirk on his face and a small shake of his head at his partner's comment. However, that is forgotten quickly as they both round the corner and glance at Kaarel's front entrance. It was clear of all boxes which were previously stacked there not long before.

"Uh oh. You think he has shot through?" Ryan quietly says.

"Damn. He might have. The captain isn't going to be happy if he has, given we were just here."

Ryan grunts in agreement as they both start down the hallway. Before they take two steps, the door of Kaarel's apartment opens. Igor steps out, places a bag on the floor, and turns to lock the apartment behind him, oblivious that the two detectives are standing ten yards away. By the volume of his earphones and the slightly rhythmic nod of his head, the distraction was enough for him to not hear Ryan and Esposito draw their guns. He checks the deadbolt and, satisfied that it is properly locked, places the keys back in his pocket. Quietly humming along with a tune, he picks up his bag and turns to walk towards the elevator.

His eyes widen in surprise and his body immediately freezes as he looks down the muzzles of two guns.

"Well that was easy," Ryan mused to his partner in mild surprise. Esposito smiled and looked down at his belt for his cuffs.

"Igor Tammik, you are under..." Esposito's words are interrupted as Igor's fist collides with his nose. Espo's head rings as his body flies against the wall with a forceful impact.

Ryan mumbles, "Whoa!" as he sees his partner's body slide down the wall and the suspect dashing inside the apartment with surprising speed. Ryan ducks, aims and shoots in the direction the bodyguard had fled. The bullets collide with the heavy wooden door with loud bangs. The bodyguard is nowhere to be seen.

Ryan sighs, gives up shooting and goes to check on his partner.

"Javi, can you hear me?" he crouches down beside Esposito, still holding his gun. Esposito groans and surfaces from the momentary loss of consciousness.

"I can..." he growls in response within few painstakingly slow seconds. Then, spitting fire from his eyes, he yells at Ryan, "You let him get away?"

"He was too quick for both of us," Ryan answers apologetically.

"What the hell are you waiting for, let's go get him!" Espo growls again, getting up from the ground, using his sleeve to wipe away the blood trickling from his nose. He dashes towards the apartment, Ryan close at his back.

"Hey, stop!" yells Esposito out as soon as he enters the apartment. He is quick enough to glance at the window where Igor already has one foot out of the window, making his way to the fire escape. Espo shoots another bullet in his direction, but it's too late. Igor is out and making his way down.

"Go! Go!" Esposito yells to Ryan. "He's getting away!"

Ryan turns on the spot and darts to the stairs mumbling, "Not on my watch."

He makes his way downstairs as fast as possible, hearing few gunshots and Esposito yelling, "Stop shooting" and "Freeze" to the escapee. Ryan runs out of the door and towards the back of the building where he remembers there was a gate. Before he can get to it, a big man appears behind the metallic bars and pushes it open with a force. Ryan doesn't manage to raise his hands fast enough to protect himself and the gate hits his cheek. He stumbles back for a second, his vision blurred from the impact. Igor makes his way out of the gate and pushes Ryan against the wall as he rushes past. He groans out loud as his back hits the stone surface of the building.

* * *

"Yes, yes," she huffs into her phone as they are making their way out of the building. "Can you get uniforms to 13 West 17th street? Yes. Flatiron District. Apartment 17. Okay. Let me know when they get there, okay?"

She clicks the phone off and pushes the door open, stepping out onto the busy streets of New York. Her car is sitting right at the front door. She slides quickly into her seat and Castle does the same, simultaneously observing her intently.

"So, the poor unis will be here soon?" he asks when she starts the engine and takes off.

"Yes," she finally replies. "Gates said that they would be here in twenty." There is a moment of silence before she asks, "What do you mean poor?"

"Oh, well, they get bossed around a lot," he answers honestly.

"That's what they do," she states calmly. "I used to be one, remember? It was interesting and educational."

"Ooooh, you in a uniform. Mmmm... you must have looked sexy all the time." He doesn't miss a beat.

She throws him a warning glance, "Castle..."

"Ok. Ok, shutting up now. But just so you know, not talking doesn't actually stop the mental images in my head..."

"I don't wanna know," she retorts in an attempt to sound as neutral as possible, but a wave of interest and... arousal... flows through her tone.

"Oh, detective, are you sure?" he smirks, looking at her. She blatantly ignores him and unconsciously shifts in her seat. It feels like the new energy between them is still making her uncomfortable. He decides to tone down his flirting a bit, to give her time to adjust, because they can't unring _that_ bell!

"Sooo, what shall we do next?" Castle props himself up and slides his hands against the surface of the laptop he is holding on his lap.

"Is the computer still working?" she asks, turning to the crossing avenue, heading towards the downtown core.

"Yes, but I think it's about to die soon," he mumbles as he opens the laptop.

"See if we got more than those two e-mails in that computer."

For a few minutes there is silence in the car. Beckett glances at Castle every now and then to see what he is doing. He is concentrating so much that he doesn't notice her constant glances.

"Ah- ha!" he exclaims, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"We have another set of e-mails... Oh. My. God!" He stops talking to read what's on the screen in front of him.

"What?" Beckett asks again, a hint of annoyance now glistening through her voice.

"This is just too good!" Castle says.

"If I have to say 'what' one more time, heads are gonna roll," Beckett grunts, her voice peppered with annoyance.

Castle shoots her an amused look. Beckett squints her eyes, trying telepathically to make him speak. Her loaded looks normally make him stop talking. Perhaps they might make him speak on demand as well.

The squinty look only makes her look more adorable in Castle's eyes, but he decides to take pity on her.

"This so explains why Kaarel wanted him dead, look," he turns the computer to her direction. Luckily they are stopped at a red light, so she can glance at the computer screen before she needs to move again. There it was: a digital receipt for the order of arsenic.

"Oh my God," her eyes go big and she echoes Castle's previous words. "Indeed, this is most definitely the source of his health problems."

"As a potential murderer, I would think that Kalev would be more careful with his documents though," Castle tries to joke. "A bit of a surprising turn to think of his former boss as a murderer as well though."

Beckett smirks and can't stop herself from musing, "Weren't you the one who came up with this crazy idea in the first place?"

"Oh right, I did," he beams a smile to her. "Thanks for reminding me. It was all my idea, yes."

"Oh no," Beckett groans. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Oh? Why not, Beckett?" Castle smiles a hundred watt smile at her. "You know I am always helpful..." he amps up the game then as he slides his hand onto her knee and squeezes it gently.

She throws a warning look at Castle. "See, this is _exactly_ why I shouldn't have said that!"

"This is exactly why you _should _have said that." Castle's smile turns into a mischievous smirk. "Don't you think I'm sexy when I help you solve crimes?"

"Castle..." she warns as his hand starts to move downwards on her thigh. She means to sound annoyed and stern, but his name comes out a little breathy.

"What's the matter, detective?"

"Stop it," she says finding the strength in her voice.

She is tense, he should do something about it. He smiles and leans closer to her and whispers to her ear "Why?"

She shudders under the light touch of his lips. She turns to look him in the eye, whispering out. "Because we're in front of precinct."

He tears his eyes away from hers and looks out of the window.

They have truly arrived to the precinct. Kate puts the vehicle in 'park' as Castle reluctantly removes his hand from her thigh.

"Don't think this is over, Kate," Castle throws her a seductive smile before he gets out of the car.

* * *

After a few long moments, Ryan tries to get to his feet again. Pain shoots from his back to his head, making him groan out loud. He opens his eyes just in time to see Igor disappearing behind the corner. He tries to find his balance, but he stumbles. Luckily, he sees Esposito running towards him.

"No, go get _him_!" Ryan yells to him, pointing in the direction the suspect had run. Esposito turns on the spot and heads towards the street.

As soon as Esposito disappears around the corner, Ryan finds himself able to stand and makes his way towards the street as well. Before he dashes in the direction his partner went, he decides better of it. No, he's not going to reach for him in time.

He sees 'Chad' (as they named their four wheeled red beauty) out of the corner of his eye. Yes, that is a better idea. He storms toward the car, opening the door in haste and gets in the driver's seat with lightning speed. Every moment counts, Esposito might be in real danger.

The car takes off fast and he races down the street, trying to get a glimpse of his partner. Soon enough he sees the big form of Igor disappearing down the next block, Esposito not far behind.

He needs to cut away Igor's escape, so he presses the gas pedal down to the floor.

Luckily, Ryan reaches them barely before the crossing and he turns sharply in front of big bodyguard, cutting him off. Blindsided, Igor has no time to stop and crashes into the car at full speed. His face hits the hood leaving a big dent in the metal.

Esposito catches up with them as soon as Igor's body hits the ground. The suspect groans as he tries, and fails, to get up from the ground.

Esposito is on him in an instant. Bending Igor's arms behind his back and handcuffing them fast, he growls, "Igor Tammik, you are under arrest for assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, and a host of other charges I haven't even begun to think up yet. You have the right to remain silent, so shut the fuck up and don't move!"


	15. Chapter 15

Beckett appears to be deep in thought in front of the murder board as Castle is in the break room form making another coffee for his partner. '_Partner_?' he thinks to himself quietly. A small smile emanates across his face as he muses on the thought. _Partner,_ he reaffirms the idea is his mind and decides it would be a pleasant experience.

_A pleasant experience_? He starts to think introspectively about what Beckett really means to him. He shuffles through the memories of their first assignment together, the awkwardness between them, her obvious reluctance to the new working relationship. Random thoughts drift through his mind, of the many close shaves they have shared together, the bond they have forged since then.

He looks at Beckett... Kate... once more, noting that adorable little frown she wears when she is putting jumbled facts together in her head.

_A pleasant experience..._ No. No. He stares at the coffee in his hand without actually looking at it, his mind completely in another place. This is not another of his _dates_ he is prone... uh, correction ...was prone to in the past. This is something more, so much more. Today will be defining for them, no doubt about that. But where will it lead? Is she in this as well?

Castle is still mulling about this when Beckett appears at the break room door. She observes the manly form of the writer for a second before she opens her mouth.

"Castle."

He jumps slightly, spilling a little coffee from the cup he has in his hand. Beckett smirks at his predicament.

"Where was your mind?"

"Well...err...I was just..."

_Where is that rapier wit now?_ Castle chastises himself. "I was... just... thinking... about the murder," he ends lamely, sounding completely unconvincing, even in his own head.

"Uh-huh," she hums and arches her eyebrow, not really believing that was the case. Smirking, she breaks the tension and gives him his out of this situation. "Come on, I think I have this figured out."

Castle follows Beckett to the murder board, sighing to himself and making a promise not to daydream as much. At least not in front of her. He hands her the coffee, which she takes gladly and is rewarded with the beautiful smile she shares only with him.

"Okay, to business, Castle."

The smile is gone and all of her attention is directed at the puzzle in front of her. He really loves the determination she throws into cases, the single-mindedness that the job requires. When she gets her teeth into it, she can expel all other thoughts and focus on the job at hand better than anyone else he knows.

"With me here, Castle?" she disrupts his thoughts again.

"Yes, totally. Why do you ask?" Castle looks at her innocently.

"Well you look out of it," she raises an eyebrow and smirks. "Concentration... problems?"

"Nope, I'm good," he says a little bit too fast. Castle suddenly looks up and gapes at her as he realizes her implication. Beckett smirks and gives him a look and stifles a laugh as she begins to run through her thoughts at the white board.

"Kalev, an Estonian diplomat, being escorted in a limo back to the Consulate, gets shot repeatedly through his car door, killing him more or less instantly by an unidentified motorcyclist who fled the scene," she pauses.

Castle nods. He is already caught up in the story, keeping the conversation going, as they so often did.

"Right, then we had a cavalcade of Kalev admirers claim to kill him, including the former CG's lover, an angry, drug addled brother and a mother and daughter who could have stepped off the set of _The Housewives of Jersey Shore_. None of which could genuinely claim they did it, amazingly enough."

"So we check Kalev's apartment, find his laptop..." Beckett seamlessly continues, "And find some incriminating receipts and e-mails, not only from Kalev, but Kaarel himself. Quite the clever person was our Kalev, to use an embassy laptop to hack into his predecessor's computer. Now..." Beckett is interrupted by the familiar text tone of her phone in the jacket pocket. She grabs it, checks the screen, and quips to Castle, "It's Ryan. They're coming in now."

* * *

Esposito shoves Igor against the wall and gives him over to the officer standing close by. Exchanging some words with the uniformed man, Igor is taken away. He turns to Beckett, saying, "Got you a nice Easter present, Beckett. Better nail the damn bastard."

"What happened to you guys? And where is Kaarel?" she gapes at Esposito's bloody nose and then turns her attention to the bloody gash on Ryan's cheek.

Ryan looks angrily at the Estonian bodyguard disappearing to the interrogation room. "Kaarel has done a runner. And that psycho..." points to the giant man, "...tried to kill us," is all he says to her before he takes off to the men's room.

Beckett looks at Ryan leaving and then turns her attention back at Esposito. He nods as an affirmation to his partner's words.

"This man is crazy. You have to get him good, at least for what he did to us."

"I don't think it will be a problem," she answers, raising a hand with a folder and shaking it, "Got some pretty hard evidence here. Now talk me through it, what happened out there?"

"We were going to make an arrest after you called, but he escaped down the fire escape. He almost broke my nose and then hit Ryan with a gate. I chased him down the street, but no luck. This man is an animal of some sort, fast as hell," he breathes in harshly as he breaks the flow of words. Beckett only nods, not wanting to interrupt him.

"Ryan finally got in the car and chased him down. Igor, there, hit the car pretty bad. I think he made a dent into Chad's hood. That bastard," he growls angrily, stuffing the tissue into his nose. "Get him good, Beckett, make him pay."

"Espo, calm down, we got him. Go clean yourself up." Turning her attention to Castle standing next to her, she huffs, "Let's go, Castle."

Castle pushes himself away from the wall he was leaning against and catches up with Beckett who is walking down the hallway. Before he completely disappears around the corner, Castle turns around and eyes Esposito.

He can't suppress the smirk, "Looks like the Estonian Viking got you good."

"Shut up, Castle!" Espo growls at him as he is readjusting the piece of tissue in his right nostril. Castle ducks away from the pen flying towards his head and almost crashes into Beckett, who is standing in front of the interrogation room door.

"Castle," she turns to face him and places her hand on his chest. He raises his eyes to meet hers. She's got his full attention. "No messing around in there. We need to do this right."

"Understood," is all he answers, nodding.

She smiles, bringing her hand to his face, caressing his fresh stubble with her fingers. He can feel the electricity in her fingertips, making his skin burn under her touch. That's all it takes. A look, a slight caress and she's got him. She has him for good.

"Let's go then," she whispers and drops her hand, turning around.

Castle breathes in and brings his fingers to slide over the surface she touched. Yes, she has him for good.

She stops and opens the door, stepping in.

"Sit down," Beckett barks to the gigantic man standing in the middle of the interrogation room, his arms handcuffed behind his back. He seems furious and dangerous up close. The man huffs out a breath but refuses to sit down.

"Sit down, or I will make you sit down," she growls to him again as the man is not reacting to her at all. Castle flinches hearing that tone. She doesn't use that very often, but when she does, it's scary.

Igor shifts his eyes to the door. He sees two uniformed men standing right behind the door, ready to come in any second. He huffs out another breath and sits down.

"There we go," she says. "Now, talk."

She is mad now. Definitely mad. Her whole demeanor and posture changed as soon as she saw Esposito's bloody face and the fresh gash on Ryan's cheek. She is very protective of her team. No one touches them.

"About what?"

"Oh, I don't know? How about... why did you run? Why did you beat up two of my partners?" she snapped, her voice full of sarcasm.

"They ran into a door?" He tries to be funny, but fails horribly.

"Ha ha." She is annoyed and smoothly changes the subject. "Did you kill Kalev Järvesoo?"

"What?" His eyes widen, not understanding where the accusation comes from. "I didn't kill that rat bastard."

"You're lying!" she raises her voice.

"Wha- ? I didn't...!" is all Igor can get out of his mouth before Beckett slams the folder she is holding on to the table. She leans forward and opens the folder.

"Where were you on the 12th of April?" she gives him a stern look, the one that penetrates your very depths and gives the sensation that she can see right through you.

"I..." he tries to say something. "I was with my master, Mr. Voorman. The whole day."

"Funny. Where is he at the moment?" she wrinkles her nose. "Can he verify your alibi?"

"No, my master is on his way to Estonia by now. His plane left thirty minutes ago."

"So, your alibi has no grounds?" Beckett tries to steer him to a confession.

"I guess..." he says. "But neither he nor I have anything to do with Kalev."

"Tell me then, why do we have a trail of e-mails and receipts that suggest otherwise?" she bores her eyes into Igor again.

"E-mails?" his eyes wide with fear. Obviously he isn't very smart. His face certainly shows that he knows something, but he still tries to deny everything.

"We have e-mails sent between you and your boss, ordering you to kill Kalev. We also have the receipts for your purchase of a black motorcycle outfit, as well as a silencer," she sifts through the documents in the folder, pulling out a photograph. "Tell me that it isn't you in this picture?"

"I..., I..." he stutters, trying to breathe normally.

"This is a picture of you at the _Guns 'n Friends _store on Wythe Ave. We can place you in the shop buying the same silencer we found in the trash at the apartment," she continues, taking out another street camera picture. "And this is you seconds before the shooting incident... very close to the vicinity of Kalev's car."

The air whooshes out of Igor's lungs. He can't believe they have these photos. "That's not me," he tries to save what's left of his dignity.

"Come on!" Beckett growls again. "Is that all you've got?"

"It's not me!"

Castle decides to open his mouth. Beckett's harsh approach with the suspect doesn't seem to be working and he sees an opportunity to go at Igor from a different angle.

"Igor," Castle says calmly, "I think you can quit playing now."

"I'm not playing!" Igor still presses through, shifting around in his chair.

Beckett turns her attention to Castle and tries to understand what he is doing, her eyebrows arched up. Castle ignores her pointed gaze and continues.

"We have your fingerprints on the silencer," he bluffs.

If Beckett's gaze could kill, Castle would be dead by now. She stares at him, knowing very well that it's not true. Castle has taken a huge gamble as the fingerprint analysis report hasn't come back yet. So there is no way to know if the fingerprints would be there.

Beckett sighs; she understands it's a thin rope he is walking on, but she resigns and keeps silent, if only to see where it leads. Maybe it will do well in the end.

Igor opens his mouth and closes it. And opens it again. But no sound comes out. His mind processes the details Castle has just shared. After a lengthy silence, he sighs and slumps back in his chair. Castle and Beckett observe him in silence and finally he opens his mouth.

"Ok, it was me," is all he says, looking at the table, avoiding the gazes of the detective and the writer.

"How does Kaarel Voorman fit in all of this?" Beckett asks, her voice calmer now. They have him now - it's only a matter how much he confesses. "Did he order the shooting?"

Igor doesn't raise his head and just nods in agreement. "Yes."

"Why did he order the shooting?" Castle asks now, trying to steer the bodyguard to reveal more details.

Igor sighs again. He knows they've got him. "He asked me one day if I would agree to do it. He promised me ten grand. I needed the money... so I thought, _'why the hell not?' _This 'new employee' was destroying him day by day. I understand why he wanted Kalev dead." He breathes in and continues, "He was dirty scum."

"How Kalev was destroying Mr. Voorman's life?" Castle inquires.

"A few weeks ago, Mr. Voorman figured out that Kalev had been poisoning him with arsenic. His health was deteriorating, his eyesight was failing. When he finally got the results of his blood test, he decided to do something about it. But since Kalev was really smart, he couldn't do this any other way but by surprise. So, he asked me to kill Kalev and I agreed. Later, he e-mailed me the details of Kalev's schedule and gave me the OK to do it. There, that's the story," he sighed. He knew he was done.

Beckett stares at the body-guard for a minute and then straightens herself. They got what they needed, case closed.

"Igor Tammik, you are under arrest for the murder of Kalev Järvesoo."

She signals the two uniforms to come in and get the man who was now hunched in the chair. Without any further words, she leaves the interrogation room and makes her way to the bullpen, Castle at her heels.

The boys are sitting behind their desks. Espo is anxiously shifting in his chair. It's understandable. He did want revenge for his bloody nose and now blackened eyes.

"We got him," Beckett announces to the boys.

"Good." Espo raises his eyes to look up to her.

"He confessed to everything. I think we can finally close the case," she sighs. All of them are getting tired of this long case. So many suspects, so much action, and finally they have a resolution.

"But we still need to get to Kaarel Voorman somehow," she states, voice barely there. She is tired. She wants to go home and _sleep. Or... _

_No! Focus, Beckett!_

"How do we do that? Isn't he out of the country right now?" Ryan asks, looking questioningly at Beckett and then shifts his glance to Castle.

"Yeah, he is flying to Estonia as we speak. We need to get into contact with Estonian authorities," she says. "I need to talk to Gates."

She starts walking towards Gates' office when the phone in her pocket starts vibrating and chiming a jolly tune. She fishes her iPhone out of her pocket and answers, "Beckett."

She covers the microphone with her hand for a moment, whispering "It's Lanie," for Castle who is eyeing her questioningly.

"What do you mean something weird?" she asks the M.E.

The strong voice of Lanie carries through the speaker and the guys can clearly make out her words, "Well, if you get your butt down here, I'll show you!"

"Okay, we'll be there in a minute."

"You guys go speak to Gates," she barks an order to her injured mates. "We need to get Kaarel. Make it right."

With that, she turns around and starts walking towards the elevator with a hurried pace. Castle isn't quite at her heels. She stops and looks back. He is still standing in front of Espo's desk, looking at her go. _What's this about?_

"Castle, you coming?" she asks, voice annoyedly playful.

He quickly finds his feet and covers the distance between them in a hurry. "Uh... yeah," he mutters.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Trinxy**_:I am seriously thankful for those awesome guest-reviews that people have left us. The most beautiful ones. I sincerely thank you for your kind words. They mean so very much. Also, for an answer to one guest – I think we are not writing "the talk" in to this fanfiction. If you are searching that, please check my other fictions too, I have played through "the talk" at least 2 times. But in the end, never say never, who knows what the last 5 chapters of the fic can create. _

**Brett:**_Thanks guys for your kind words. This has been fun so far making up a story about a truly great TV show. Wish I had Marlowe's brains. __Any suggestion you have, we love to hear. Positive feedback most welcomed. For single ladies my number is 555... _

Special thanks to our editors Shena and Lv2bnsb … they are just plain awesome!


	16. Chapter 16

"Where's your other half?" Lanie asks as soon as she sees Beckett stepping in the morgue alone.

"What?" Beckett stops on her tracks for a moment and is confused for a second.

"Don't you _what _me, girl," Lanie gives her a look. "Where did you leave your shadow?"

"He is in the bathroom, he'll be here in a minute," she smiles at Lanie. Lanie nods. That would explain why she arrived alone.

"What's going on with you two?" Lanie leans in closer to Beckett.

"Nothing," she says. A little bit too fast. It's a dead giveaway for her friend.

"Kate," she smiles, "There is something happening. Or something _has _happened. I can feel it in the air." Lanie waves her hands around Kate, trying to spot her aura, "Now spill."

Beckett rolls her eyes. Lanie will not give up, not now, not ever. Sometimes Kate thinks she has psychic abilities when it comes to relationships, like the gossip girl she is. Especially with _her _relationships. Lanie knows a whole lot. How does she do it? Beckett narrows eyes on her. She is so sure that things are not over between Lanie and Esposito and Lanie obviously hears things from him.

"There's nothing to spill," she smirks.

"Don't give me that," Lanie pokes Kate in the stomach with her finger. "What did Writer-Boy do this time?"

"What did I do?"

The girls hear Castle's voice coming from the doorway.

Lanie turns herself to face the approaching writer. "That's what I am trying to figure out."

Castle glances at Beckett, trying to understand what the two women are talking about, his face utterly confused. While Lanie's attention is on Castle, Beckett shakes her head furiously, trying to force Castle to be silent about them and what is happening. Lanie turns away from the writer and looks at her intently now. Beckett managed to get her features neutral again, before Lanie brought her attention back to Kate.

"He didn't do anything, Lanie," Beckett sighs. "Leave it alone."

Lanie narrows her eyes on her. "Fine," she grits through her teeth. "Be secretive. But you know that I'll find out about it either way," she says suspiciously as she waves her finger back and forth pointing at the detective and the writer.

"Lanie, why did you call us here?" she asks, trying to change the subject fast.

"I know what you are trying to do here," Lanie smirks at Kate. "But, fine, I will bring you the results," she takes off and quickly makes her way into the office next to her morgue.

"What was that about?" Castle leans closer and whispers.

"I have no idea," she shakes her head, smile creeping slowly to her face. She whispers, "She is like a psychic sometimes. She senses that something is different between us, probably."

"Is there?" he asks, stepping closer to her, eyeing her intently.

She looks up to his eyes, those blue, gentle and loving eyes.

"I think so?" she answers finally, trying to control her features and not to break out the grin that is forcing itself up. He smiles back at her, his whole posture suddenly changes and he seems seemingly at ease now.

"Just ignore her," she whispers a bit louder, just as Lanie is coming in from the other room. "She is crazy sometimes."

"I heard that," Lanie announces when she surfaces from her office, reading a file in her hand.

"I didn't say anything," Kate shrugs innocently and steps closer to her friend. "What've you got for us?"

Lanie narrows her eyes on her once more. Then, finally huffing out an annoyed breath, she holds out a medical form for Beckett to take. Kate takes the paper in her hand and eyes it over. She furrows an eyebrow, not really understanding what she is seeing.

"What is it?"

"It's a blood test results I ordered on the shooting victim," Lanie explains.

"Blood test?" Kate asks, "Didn't he die because of the twenty-something bullets in his body?"

Lanie nods but digs up the file of the dead Estonian. "The victim was already a little bit blue when he came into my morgue. It didn't add up with the bullet holes in his body. There was something off with the wounds."

She opens the file folder and takes out one picture. "What I discovered was that the bullets had entered his body approximately five to ten minutes after his death. It couldn't have been the shooting that killed him. See," she lays down pictures of the victim down to the table, "lack of blood in the entry wounds. No big amounts of blood gushing out, like it happens with ante mortem wounds."

She raises her head to look at Beckett again. She doesn't seem to understand where Lanie is going yet.

So, naturally, Lanie continues, "His heart stopped before the bullets entered his body. As I said, I thought was, odd. So I tested him for blood poisons. There _was_ something in the blood stream, but I couldn't identify it myself, so I sent a sample of his blood to FBI central laboratory. This," she points to the paper, "came back today."

Kate shakes her head. Unbelievable. The story they have been working on involved the shooter. They _just_ caught the man responsible. And now, the whole case is falling apart again. Just because he was dead before the rain of bullets. Damn this case.

"So what killed him?" Kate asks, returning the paper to Lanie's waiting hands.

"Somehow... and I don't know how... he was hit with a blow dart that pumped a poison into his system."

Both Castle and Beckett's eyes widen in surprise. Before Kate can say anything, Castle yells out, "_A BLOW DART?_"

Lanie suppresses a snicker. "Yes, Castle. A blow dart full of poison."

"How awesome is that?" Castle can't help himself. He smiles, his grin as wide as his face. Beckett just throws him a glance, shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

Lanie continues, "The lab discovered large quantities of _antiarins_, _strychnine _and_ brucine_ in his blood. They say that the amount of the poison injected could have killed a tiger. I am assuming the FBI has had cases involving blow dart poisons before, because they connected the chemicals with the latex sap from _Antiaris toxicaria_. "

"A what now?" Castle asks out loud.

"It's a tropical tree," Lanie explains. "Apparently, the latex-like secretion from that particular tree is commonly used in some areas of the world to make blow dart poisons."

"Whoa, this case is getting more and more awesome by the minute!" Castle cheers out excitedly. He seriously looks like a kid at Christmas time.

"Castle, breathe," Kate tries to calm him even though she can't suppress a bubble of laughter she feels coming up. He is as amusing as he is annoying.

She turns to Lanie. "So, let me get this straight. He was somehow injected with poison from a blow dart before the shooting?"

Lanie nods.

"And you are saying he was dead before any of the bullets hit him."

Lanie nods again. "Cardiac failure."

There is a pregnant pause in the room, interrupted only by fast breathing of Castle who is trying to internalize his excited shouts.

"This doesn't help us at all," Kate sighs finally. She glances to Castle for a brief second and turns to her friend "Thanks, Lanie. We better get this to precinct now," she snatches the paper from the good doctor.

"You're welcome. You needed to know that piece of information," the ME shrugs. "And don't think you are off the hook, missy," She points a finger at Kate.

"Lanie," Kate sighs.

"Go get the killer. And then we _WILL _talk."

Kate stares at her friend for a moment, and then murmurs something under her breath, sounding like _"you wish"._ She turns herself around and starts walking to the door. "Let's go, Castle."

"Thanks, Lanie" Castle smiles at the ME who arches an eyebrow and smirks. _Since when has writer-boy ever thanked her? _Castle then turns around and realizes that Kate is gone from his side. He heads to the exit and runs after her.

When the door closes behind him, the room falls silent. Lanie smirks again.

"Good grief, those two," she murmurs to herself in the empty morgue. "They totally did it."

* * *

Ryan and Esposito gather in front of the murder board with Beckett, pensive expressions drawn on all their faces. To say that this new revelation was a surprise is possibly the understatement of the year. Castle, who is sitting behind Kate's desk, glances at each of them, knowing that they shared the same frustration he is currently feeling... even though it also made him giddy. Seriously, who uses blow darts anymore these days? This is like a gold mine of information. But he also realizes that they are back to square one.

It is Beckett who finally breaks the silence. "So...who the hell killed Kalev?"

Whether she is speaking to them, or to herself, it isn't clear.

Castle coughs slightly and decides to jump in. "Okay. Let's back up here a little and review what we have."

Beckett steps back and nods for him to continue, knowing that Castle's crazy theories were sometimes helpful. God knows they are stuck again with this case. They need some good ideas.

He steps towards the board and pulls off the picture of Kalev and waves it in front of him.

"Kalev, an ambitious diplomat, slowly poisons his boss with arsenic because he has his eyes firmly on the top job at the consulate. He also knows that he has been found out by..." Castle pauses as he grabs the Kaarel's picture off the board as well. "...Kaarel Voorman, having hacked into his emails, and seeing the exchange between Igor and himself. Proving he wasn't smart himself, he also kept receipts on his computer for the arsenic. Do you think he thought being a diplomat put him beyond the law?" He directed the last question at the three detectives all listening to his summary.

"Who knows?" says Ryan as he shrugs.

Castle dismisses it and forges on. "But Kalev is too late. Either that or he is too comfortable. Igor, Kaarel's bodyguard, is already on the job, and fires multiple rounds through his limo door to ensure that the job is done. But, as our esteemed M.E. just informed us, Kalev was already dead by the means of a very rare poison. Do I have that right so far?"

The boys look at each other and then Castle, finally nodding, having nothing more to add for the moment.

Castle smiles to himself and continues. "So...the questions are, where was Kalev traveling from and who administered the poison?"

Then he looks directly at Beckett, and pauses for a few seconds.

Beckett notes that both Ryan and Esposito have also turned towards her, anticipating her input. Her nerves start to fray slightly as she suspects Castle is going to ask her something highly inappropriate, and most likely private.

"What?" she stammers.

"My dear Detective Beckett..." Castle knows he is teasing her, but considers it payback for the moment outside the interrogation room. Beckett bites her bottom lip and braces herself. Another theatrical pause...

"Where was Kalev coming from?" he asks finally. He looks pointedly at Beckett who is staring intently at the murder board.

"Huh?" she stammers. She was expecting a different question altogether.

There is a beat of awkward silence before she answers. "Eer..., according to the driver, he picked up Kalev at United Nations Plaza and they headed to 1st Avenue."

Esposito nods while he listens to the conversation between Castle and Beckett. Ryan, who is picking up on the tension between the partners, silently smirks.

"How much time does it take to drive from the Plaza to 37th Street?" Castle asks.

Before Beckett can open her mouth, Ryan pipes up. "It should take about seven to ten minutes, depending on the traffic."

"Do you see where I am going with this?" Castle asks smiling widely at his audience. He enjoys this. The drama, the theatricality of revealing the last bits of the mystery.

Beckett furrows her brows. The male detectives don't seem to be following his train of thought just yet either.

Castle is beyond excited, but he tries to internalize it. So, he turns serious for a brief minute. His voice calm, he turns to Beckett and finally asks, "Do they have street videos or security cameras in the area?"

Beckett stares at Castle briefly. Then her mind snaps into gear. Kalev was coming from the UN. Street video. Of course. In an instant, she turns to Ryan and orders, "Traffic cameras!"

Ryan, however, has already realized the same thing and is already walking towards his desk, Esposito quick at his tail.

"On it," he tells Beckett before he picks up the phone and starts dialing.

* * *

**Thank you, all. For reading, for reviewing. We really do love those little notes you sent us. They always make us want to write better. For you. And sometimes, you people, have the greatest ideas! Just keep em coming. **

**I am sorry for the delays in this fic tho. It is busy time for me and Brett. Especially for him, since he has the busiest time at work. But we are tying to write as fast as we can, for you guys.**

**Thank you PenguinOfTroy and Shena for being so nice and looking over that fiction of ours. **


	17. Chapter 17

**We are so really sorry that we haven't updated this fic in… 3 months? Wow, that has been a long time. Seems like winter and spring is the time when everybody suddenly get busy. Brett and I have been working our writer-asses off, so there is a little time left for writing. Now, finally we got another chapter done. We really hope you guys like it. **

**Thanks for Shena and lv2bnsb and my German minions who have been looking over this chapter. You are awesome. Shh, don't tell them we said that. **

* * *

Silence embraces the dimly lit bullpen. The only sounds that disturb the serenity are the muffled sounds from the tech room and Beckett's fast clicking of the mouse. She is checking the victim's financials again. They need to figure out who the mysterious killer is before the next strike. Since they just found out that the shooting wasn't the cause of death in this case, they need to know why he was poisoned and who might have been behind it.

"Oh my god, this guy was a freak," Castle exclaims, breaking the silence hanging around them. He is sitting next to Beckett's desk, the victim's computer placed on his lap as he furiously searches through the files.

"What did you find?" Beckett asks in monotone voice without even bothering to look away from her screen.

"There are so many... _oh_. What the-?" he starts to say but gets derailed by the pictures he hadn't seen before that are suddenly emerging on the screen.

"Castle..." Beckett groans out loud.

He has been like this for an hour. As soon as the boys left for the tech room and she and Castle settled down at her desk, he has been trying to test her nerves by announcing every little bit of information he finds. Okay, she must admit that crazy e-mail from one of victim's ex-girlfriends was interesting, but in the end, it didn't get them anywhere. She was getting tired. And pissed. And there were still no clues whatsoever about the killer.

"Look at that!" he rouses from the seat and turns the small laptop towards Beckett. There is a picture of a naked woman, bound and gagged, seemingly in the midst of some weird ritual.

"What is that?" she gasps. She wasn't expecting to see pornographic photos on the screen.

"It's on the computer. Look..." he closes the picture and the folder appears, containing hundreds of similar pictures. "The whole folder is full of them."

"And?" she asks. "It's porn. Every man watches porn."

"Look at them!" he scrolls down. "There are hundreds of them... all showing women being gagged and tortured! This is not normal!"

She is silent for a second, looking at the gruesome pictures on the screen.

"That's gross," she exhales when he stumbles upon one of the torture pictures. She shudders.

"Kalev seems to have some kind of fetish," she finally says out loud, "by the looks of it."

"I think so too," Castle notes. After making his point to her, nods and settles back in his chair, pulling the laptop to his lap. "Just look at it all, it's just too much for the one man-"

"Castle!" She stops his flow of words before she gets annoyed again and gives him pointed stare. "That doesn't help us right now."

Shaking her head, she directs her attention back to the computer again.

"It does, at least a bit," Castle raises his glance from the screen, smirking at her. He loves when she is annoyed. Especially when _he _is the one to rile her up.

She turns her gaze back on him and arches an eyebrow questioningly, challenging him.

Castle licks his lips and - leaning towards her slightly - gets ready to tell a story, a smug grin on his face.

"It may be the reason Kalev was killed. If he loved these kind of…" he glances at the screen for a second, "..._activities_ so much, maybe he was participating in such things in real life too?"

Beckett nods as he pauses briefly between the words. It seems plausible.

Naturally, he continues.

"If somebody found out about it, it would have very well been a reason for revenge. Because, if you think about it... shooting is an act of passion, a decision made in a moment of anger. As we found out, Kaarel Voorman ordered Kalev's shooting in a swirl of anger and disappointment. He wanted to make a point. He wanted to make everything go away quickly and painlessly. But poisoning somebody... that's an act of revenge. It implies that a lot of time and labour was put into the planning. The killer must be smart - very smart - to go such lengths to actually _get _the poison first. Because - if you think about it - it's a very rare poison that is _not_ easily available in the US," he stops rambling for a moment and looks at her intently.

She nods in agreement, "Yes, it's very rare."

"And it must have required weeks, maybe even _months_ of planning in order to get the chemicals into the country without the authorities noticing. She must have had everything planned out from the beginning," he muses.

"How do you know the killer is a _she_?" Beckett sarcastically disturbs his philosophizing.

"It would fit the profile," he retorts nonchalantly. "People who poison others are usually females."

Beckett just gapes at him.

"That is such a stereotypical view," she scowls. "Just because our victim was poisoned doesn't automatically mean that the killer was a female."

"Oh, come on, that would make so much sense," Castle objects, "and it would be such a better story!"

Beckett rolls her eyes at his crazy talk. "How does that make sense? And do you have any proof?" she asks, looking at him intently, waiting for an answer.

The joyful expression of discovery that was on his face fades after her question.

Defeated, he finally huffs out a "No".

"It's only a theory, Castle," she tries to amend her previous rough statement. "We need to find evidence first. You know that."

"I do," he answers softly.

"Then get on it," she says and points at the laptop sitting on his knees. He nods in surrender and returns his attention to the laptop.

And the silence envelops them once again.

* * *

A bowl of Doritos and a couple of sodas rest between Ryan and Esposito, the former is at the controls of the video archive of the traffic cameras, the ones from the street outside the UN. Ryan is a picture of concentration as he scours every person entering a car. Esposito is casually leaning back in his chair, arms behind his head, and feet on the desk, happily allowing his partner to do this part of the grunt work.

"Okay. This looks like his limo," says Ryan as he leans closer to the screen. Esposito sits up, and takes a closer look. "Wait no, I'm wrong. Unless Kalev was wearing a tribal African outfit."

"Dude, I was comfy. Don't give me false hope like that," Esposito resumes his former position, and noisily crunches on some Doritos.

"We are in the window where Kalev should have gotten into a limo. Where is he... where is he..." Ryan says out loud but mostly to himself.

Then they fall into a quiet again, as they are both scanning the screen with their eyes. Suddenly, the silence is broken by Ryan's phone ringing, a fast paced Irish ditty. Esposito looks at him curiously, barely being able to maintain a straight expression.

"What?" says Ryan slightly embarrassed. "Jenny and I are both Irish descent. Seemed fitting."

He gathers himself and hits the answer icon. "Hi, honey, how are you?" He pauses for a second listening to his wife's description of her day.

"Yeah, I'll be home tonight. Emily still in town?" Ryan smiles and smirks at Espo. "She is? Great. Wait... let me put this on speaker, I have my hands full." Esposito rolls his eyes as Ryan places the phone down on the desk between them. "Oh Javi is here too. Say hi Javi?"

"Hey Jenny, how ya doing?" Esposito smiles widely.

"Great thanks, Javi, you looking after my man?" Jenny replies in a beautiful sweet voice.

"Oh sure, a few running gun battles, high speed chases, the usual day." To his credit, Esposito keeps a calm tone to his voice.

"What? You are serious?" Jenny's voice has gone up an octave already, and Ryan senses that she is about to launch into something.

"Relax, sweetie, he is kidding around. The usual boring day, apart from arresting a large Estonian man, who gave us some minor grief.

Esposito whispers silently to Ryan "Minor? Yeah right..."

"So Jenny, "Ryan continues. "Since Emily is coming over tonight, you want me to invite Castle?" He looks over at Espo, and mouths the words _"Remember, lunches for a week...", _and gives him the OK sign.

"Actually Emily already invited Castle over. He says he will probably be tied up though. Javi, if you aren't busy, do you want to make it a foursome?"

Esposito's look of dismay instantly changes and says quickly, "I would love to."

Ryan looks nonplussed how that backfired on him.

"Okay, honey, gotta get back to work. Love you, and will see you later." Ryan mumbles in a low voice.

"Later honey, love you." Jenny is oblivious to her husband's demeanor and cheerfully hangs up.

Esposito looks at his crestfallen partner, smugly grinning, "Well that went well."

"Oh shut up. You haven't won the bet yet. My money is still on Castle and Emily," Ryan collects his thoughts and continues hunting the video footage for the elusive Kalev.

Esposito stares at the screen, "Well my money is on that being Kalev walking to that limo. Stop the video."

Ryan pauses the feed and zooms in on the man. "Can we get that any cleaner?"

"Wait, there is a closer camera to that particular location. Let's bring that up now..." Ryan and Esposito wait patiently for the time base of the video to catch up. "Let's check this one. Okay, that's him!"

Esposito takes up the commentary. "Yep... there's Kalev walking towards the limo. Okay, who is that?"

They both look closely at the screen and observe an Asian man shaking Kalev's hand, talking briefly, and then walking off. Kalev then enters the limo.

"Well that was anti-climatic," Ryan notes to his partner.

Esposito, though, has a suspicious look. "Play back that scene again between the two."

Ryan rewinds the feed and plays it again. "You see that? After the handshake?"

Ryan concentrates on the moment of the handshake, "Yeah, Kalev shakes his hand after it, like it hurt. Think that is suspicious though?"

"I am not sure. Let's see what Beckett and Castle have to say about it."

"Okay," Ryan answers. As they get up from their seats, he makes his way to the printer, "Let me print it out."

* * *

After ten minutes of intense clicking through the database, Beckett is certain she spotted something weird. Something that doesn't make any sense. Even though they had gone through the victim's financials already, they hadn't looked very intently, as she is doing now. At roughly the same time, she sees Castle shifting in his chair, and judging by the grin on his face, he has found something too.

"Did you find something?" she asks, knowing it was probably what he was waiting for.

"Oh, I think I did," he grins.

"Show me," Kate tells him and he props the laptop onto the table, shifting his chair closer to hers.

Their knees bump together and it makes her instantly aware that his body is so very close to hers. She throws a glance at him and sees him looking at her, staring at her neck. She can't stop the blush creeping across her cheeks. He is smirking now, settling snugly against her. The closeness is affecting him too. She takes a deep breath and turns her attention back to the computer in front of her, trying to ignore his broad frame against her as much as she can. _They are at work. _

"Look," he points at the screen, breaking the flow of her thoughts.

"I was going through his inbox and I found these letters." He opens up the first letter. It is a message written in broken English demanding money in exchange for silence.

'_You send me 10 000 dollars or I will tell story to media.'_

"Judging by his inbox, he gets weird mail all the time," he continues. "But this one stood out. Look at who sent it as well as the timestamp."

Again he points at the computer screen, directing her attention to the e-mail address _gigaveeri _ and the timestamp showing _UTC +7 hours_ and the arrival time of the message was 3:13am.

"Why-" she starts to ask, but Castle is faster than her.

"Before you say anything, I did a web search to check my theory." He opens up a webpage. "See... the e-mail provider is an Indonesian based company, and the time difference is roughly the same between Jakarta and New York."

"How do you know?" she inquires.

"I looked it up on my World Clock app," he smiles, taking his iPhone out and sliding his fingers over it. "God I love this thing."

She watches him stroke the phone, his fingers trailing the smooth screen ever so slowly. She feels a shiver run up her spine remembering how those fingers traced the soft edges of her face not so long ago. How good it- _Focus, Kate... _she snaps herself out of the thought.

Pointedly ignoring the soft caresses that he is sharing with his phone, Beckett asks, utterly confused, "But Indonesia? Why would the mail come from Indonesia? And wh..." she stops mid-sentence, remembering the odd numbers and dates from the data she just had looked through. "Wait a minute..."

She rolls her chair back in front of her computer and glances at the financial documents displayed on the screen. She's determined, looking for something within the numbers there.

* * *

He is looking at her intently, letting his eyes roam across her back for a second, and taking in the sight of her, as her attention is fixated on the screen. It wasn't so long ago, when he was holding her body in his arms, kissing her senseless... _Stop it, Castle_, he mentally slaps himself.

"Here," she exhales when she spots what she was looking for. She sharply turns her head to look at him.

He takes in a gulp of air. Her eyes are sparkling, probably due to her excitement of finding new clues and making progress on the case. She's so beautiful and it takes a lot of effort for him to turn his attention towards the numbers on the screen. He squints his eyes and tries to understand what he is seeing.

"What am I looking at?" he asks.

"Look at the dates. Here," she points at the numbers on her screen, "and here."

"The times match," he finally says after a long moment of silence (and an effort to focus back on the case).

"The message was sent to Kalev at 3:13am. The sum of…" he checks the sum from the other end of the screen, "...10,000 US dollars was deposited into this account," he points at the numbers on the monitor, "roughly twelve hours after he received the e-mail!"

"Yes, exactly," she nods. "But it's not the first time he has accessed that account. Kalev has wired money to that account at least three other times. Look."

Beckett clicks on the number on screen and the account history appears. Sure enough, there it is, in black and white - Kalev had deposited various amounts of money into that particular account on several occasions.

"Can you check if there are more e-mails from that same address?" Beckett asks.

"Sure," Castle nods and he turns his attention to his laptop to search in the inbox.

In a few short moments, the e-mails appear on the screen, showing that the same person had sent at least five more messages to Kalev. The first one was short, indicating that Kalev had known the blackmailer since 2009. Other e-mails included messages asking for money in exchange for information that the blackmailer had. Turns out, he has been blackmailing Kalev since 2011.

"The dates correlate with the money transfers," Beckett confirms her suspicions. "And look, the last e-mail was sent only... five days before Kalev was murdered."

She throws a quick glance at her computer screen, "But there is no money trail this time."

"Nothing?" Castle asks, eyes wide. That doesn't make any sense. Why had Kalev been paying the blackmailer and then, all of a sudden, stopped?

"This person sounds more and more like a suspect to me," Beckett points out. "He coerces money out of Kalev until..."

"... Kalev has had enough and doesn't pay anymore," he finishes the sentence.

"And then the person decides to…" she continues.

"... poison him, instead of setting the truth free?" he offers.

"Yeah, but why would they do that... " she wonders out loud trailing off with her idea. Her words slowly falter as she notices how close they have gotten during their little verbal foreplay.

He is only inches away from her, his face unreadable, his blue eyes fixed on her. She begins to feel the heat rising in her cheeks. She doesn't remember moving closer to him, but there he is... right in front of her. She finds herself staring at his lips and when she looks up to his eyes again, she discovers that he noticed this as well. She needs to break this energy zapping between them before she can't control herself.

"Uh... let me see... if ... I can find out who owns the bank account," she murmurs.

"Uh... yes... you should," he seems to wake up from his momentary euphoria, backing away from her.

Her body instantly misses his proximity. She clears her throat and types the bank account number into the database, while Castle leans back in his chair, smirking softly and watching her out of the corner of his eye, enjoying the fact he managed to fluster her for a moment.

"Here it is," she breathes out, relief flooding her senses, when the name pops up on her computer screen. "Alfred Tirta Maneni."

"Sounds weird," Castle hums, nodding.

"Do we have a picture to go with the name?"

"Not yet," she shakes her head. "I'm working on it."

As soon as she types the name into the immigration database, her phone chirps. She opens the incoming message and scans it quickly.

"It's Lanie. She says that she finished the autopsy and the report is ready for us to collect. And..." she pauses, scrolling down the screen of her phone. "Oh, Lanie also says that she found a faint puncture wound on his right palm."

"It would probably be the..." Castle can't finish his sentence as the tech room door opens and Esposito walks out from the tech room, Ryan on his tail.

"Hey Beckett, we think we may have found something," he says, closing in on the desk.

Both Beckett and Castle turn their heads toward the boys.

"What did you find, Espo?"

"I think we have a screenshot of the possible suspect," he says with a serious face and motioning Ryan to show the close up shot they just printed out. Ryan steps forward and gives the paper to Beckett.

"The Asian looking guy?" Beckett specifies so that she understands correctly.

"Yes," Esposito nods. "Look at the other one."

Ryan gives her the other picture. Two guys shaking hands. One positively Asian, one positively Northern European looking.

"They are shaking hands?" Castle asks, peeking at the picture in Beckett's hands. "Beckett..., do you-?"

Castle and Beckett share intense look between each other, one that makes Esposito and Ryan furrow their eyebrows.

Beckett finally nods and decides to put the guys out of their misery, "Lanie just called. She said that Kalev had a puncture wound on his right palm."

The light bulb switches on in both Ryan and Esposito's heads.

"They are shaking hands..." they say almost in unison.

Before she can nod in agreement, Beckett's computer beeps, indicating the end of the search in the immigration database. One name has popped up.

Beckett scoots closer to the computer and clicks on the name. The full profile pops up, revealing Alfred's picture with it.

Castle gasps.

Beckett raises the close up shot in her hand to the level of the screen. The faces match.

Finally, Esposito voices the reaction everybody has in their head.

"Gotcha, you son of a bitch."

* * *

**How did you like the chapter? What are you expecting more from this fic? Hit the review button and let us know. Reviews are good. They make us smile.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Again, I am so sorry for the long wait. Crazy times, crazy times. The good news is, there are only few chapters till the conclusion of the story, so you can be at peace. I am so thankful of all the people who have been reading this story still. I hope you still like it and will anticipate the ending. In July, it will be the year since we started writing it, I HOPE that we are done before we can celebrate 1 year. Hehehe. Thank you all. For reading, for supporting. You rock. Sheyna and crazy German – thanks for betaing!**

* * *

_A little recap – Estonian consulate worker was shot, 23 times to his chest. There were 3 major suspects, each and every one claiming to be a killer. In the end, they found a shooter, big crazy Estonian guy, with motives and right equipment. For sure. He shot him. But he didn't kill him. Because the consulate general was already dead in the limousine before any bullet hit him. After quick search from the traffic cameras around the UN area, they found the suspect._

* * *

The car rolls into the street in a low hum, disturbing the surrounding silence. It's a fairly small street in North-East Brooklyn. The road is empty. No other cars in the darkness of the night.

Beckett pulls over in front of the house they assume houses the suspect, the boys at her heels.

While Esposito parks his car, she is out of her cruiser, reaching for the trunk. She rips the door open and takes out her vest and her thigh holster. Castle is a bit slower; he reaches for the back just as Beckett is finishing attaching the holster.

He freezes, watching her prepping herself for the arrest.

She really can't get any hotter than wearing the thigh holster.

He swallows.

Suddenly, he becomes aware of his staring and he snaps his focus back to the vest in front of him. But it's too late already. Beckett has noticed his hungry gaze.

"Castle, focus," she hisses at him.

"I am," he mumbles back, getting into his vest.

"Not at me," she huffs. "Staying alive."

Ah, right. That's why he is wearing a vest, isn't he? To stay alive.

"That's a good idea as well," he mumbles, following her through the gate.

The boys are ready to go, their police vests on and guns in their hands. Both of them are serious. They know what is at stake there. They need to catch this killer before he strikes somewhere else.

"Ready?" Beckett asks them. The boys nod in unison. Then she looks at Castle, and seeing him nodding, she turns around and steps closer to the house, Ryan at her heels.

"Espo, backdoor," she gives a command and the Latino detective disappears around the corner.

Then Beckett bangs at the door.

They wait.

No answer.

"Police, open up!" she yells into the evening air.

They all hear footsteps running around the house, but nobody is opening the door. He's escaping. The suspect is escaping.

"Alfred, open the door!" Beckett orders and nods to Ryan.

Nothing.

Ryan kicks in the door and they are in the house. Ryan in front, Beckett right behind him. Castle is keeping a distance between him and his friends, letting them do their work.

"Alfred!" Beckett yells again. "We know you are in here!"

"Clear," Ryan yells from the first room. Beckett echoes from the other room.

Castle moves behind Beckett and they reach the living room, Ryan at their side.

Suddenly a shadow jumps out from the corner of the room.

"Stay back!" a man, dressed in a black jumpsuit yells at them. "Stay back!"

Out of nowhere, he grabs a long knife and points it at Ryan before Beckett can even react.

It's him. The same man from the database, the same man on the traffic camera footage, shaking hands with the elusive Estonian. They got him.

"Whoa!" she yells at the man. "Alfred, put the knife down."

"Stay away!" he ignores Beckett's words, swishing around with the blade. Beckett is aiming at him, her hand firmly aiming at the huge knife. So is Ryan.

"Alfred, I need you to calm down and put down the knife," Beckett speaks with a low tone, authoritative yet with a calming effect. She _needs_ him to calm down. She needs to get the knife away from him, from the situation. This makes things far more complicated.

And complicated surely isn't what she needs right now.

But the man doesn't listen. His eyes are burning in a mad haze and he can't stand still. He points the knife at her when she takes a step closer to him.

"Don't come near me!" he yelps, taking a step back and his body hitting a wall with a muffled thump.

"Alfred, listen to me, you don't need that knife. We're not gonna shoot you," Beckett tries to calm the man down again. But it doesn't work. It doesn't work at all. Instead it seems to be irritating him more because he just grips the knife more firmly in his hand and points it at her again.

"Don't! Me gonna hurt you!" he yells out loud.

Castle is behind Beckett, watching the scene play out in front of him. Fighting the urge to speak up and do something, he has remained silent. His gut says it's better to be quiet this time. This situation is way out of his hands. Instead of doing something stupid, he extends his arm and places it on the small of her back. He feels her flinching slightly, but she relaxes against his palm. She understands the wordless message,_ 'I got your back.'_

Beckett stays there, unmoving and certain, Ryan has moved to the side, blocking the way out, so the crazy knife-wielding killer couldn't escape during their staring contest.

"Alfred," she warns again. "Put. The knife. Down."

"NO!" he yells back at them, his eyes burning, turning his blade towards Ryan who has snuck incredibly close to him. "Stay back!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Beckett sees a shadow through the glass of the back door, just behind Alfred.

_Esposito._

He has made his way out there. The team has all the entrances covered now, Alfred has no escape. No chance in hell he can get out here without cuffs on.

"Alfred," she takes a step closer, nodding to Espo. "You have no chance of escape, I suggest you surrender."

"NO!" he again screams like a maniac and grabs the knob of the door behind him and yanks the door open.

Esposito stares back at him with a gun pointed at Alfred's head. He is visibly startled. He didn't expect anybody to be there, let alone holding a gun towards him.

"Drop the knife or I'll blow your brains out," Espo growls.

Beckett uses that moment of confusion to get closer to Alfred. But not too close. Since he is still holding the blade in his hand. She takes few tentative steps towards them.

The young man falls silent, almost like he's defeated. He sighs and starts to lower the hand holding the knife.

Suddenly there is a craziness of movements. Haze of hands and feet in the air.

The blade flies from Alfred's hands. He hits Espo's hand with his foot, disarming the detective fast. The Latino falls back against the fence. Somehow, he manages to get past Esposito without being harmed and he flees out the back door, trying to run. But Esposito is quicker. He's up and running and on Alfred's back within a blink of an eye, his gun long forgotten, pushing the killer down into the ground.

Ryan reaches the yard in a matter of seconds and soon enough he's helping his partner. They have Alfred cuffed fast and efficiently.

Castle rushes past Beckett to see the commotion outside. Now that the threat is gone, he feels lighter, he gets excited. He steps out of the door to see all of it himself. It's so damn cool.

"Alfred Tirta Maneni, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law..." Espo starts to growl out the Miranda rights for the cold blooded killer.

"Did you see it, Beckett?" Castle asks in obvious glee. The chase and the takedown of a suspect is always an adrenaline boost for him. He feels it all though his system now and he is jittery with all the excitement. "Did you see how Esposito took him down? _It was awesome_!"

But Kate doesn't respond. Castle realizes that there is an eerie silence in the room behind her. He turns around.

"Beckett?"

"Castle?" he hears a faint sound of her voice inside.

"Beckett, what's wrong?" he steps back into the small building.

_Oh. _

Beckett just stands there, clutching her arm. He doesn't understand for a second, but then he sees...

There's the knife, the same one Alfred was holding in his hands, sticking out of her right arm. _Holy crap. _She must have gotten hit during all the commotion. How... why?

"Castle..." she tries again, her voice weakening. She starts to stumble back, her legs giving out under her.

Castle rushes to her and he manages to catch her before her body hits the floor.

"Beckett," he pleads. "Stay awake, Beckett."

Kate turns her face to him, her eyes droopy. The blood is soaking her jacket, the red stain gets bigger and bigger by the minute. It's not good. She's bleeding too fast. Too freaking fast.

"Beckett, stay with me, please," Castle begs her. Then he yells out to the guys, "Esposito! Ryan! Call 9-1-1! Beckett has been hit!"

He hears a faint _'what'_ from outside and Ryan rushes in.

"Oh, crap," the Irish detective voices Castle's thoughts when he sees the two of them on the ground.

"Castle..." Beckett sighs, trying to open her eyes again. But no success. Her eyes close and her body goes limp in his hands.

* * *

**So, thoughts? Please let me know what you think of this. Will Beckett survive? Are they OK? What will become of their partnership?**


	19. Chapter 19

**Here you go. My second to last chapter is finally here. Once again, my dear followers, I am sorry for you to be waiting so long. With the ending of the season, it has been crazy everywhere and I kind of needed a bit time off. Same goes with Brett. He is crazy busy. I am on the road again. Hopefully! There is only one chapter left to write, so I try to be very quick. My goal is to have the last chapter up next week (I'm trying to be good and actually finish this fic!). **

**Thank you all of you who have still stayed with this fic. Extremely grateful that you still read it and comment on it. Its just. Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to me. **

**Thank you Sheyna and my special loony german who have been by my side with this story. **

* * *

_"I think she is starting to wake up..."_

An unembodied voice comes from somewhere near to her, but she can't quite figure out who it is. It sounds familiar. Yes, it does.

_"Beckett, open your eyes,"_ she hears the soothing male voice. Castle's comforting voice.

Her eyelids flutter and she sees the face of her partner crouching over her.

"Hi," he smiles at her and then averts his gaze to the medic sitting beside him. "She's up, thank god."

"What's going on?" she mumbles through the haze of pain. Her whole right arm aches.

Castle focuses his attention back on her. "You have a knife in your arm. Alfred stabbed you before he ran away," he shares in a comforting tone.

"Did he...?" she tries to find out if they failed to apprehend the suspect or he managed to escape.

Castle already guesses what she's asking. "No, Espo got him just after... right before I found you."

"Ah, well," she manages to smile weakly, "so it wasn't a total failure then."

"No, it wasn't," he nods, looking the hands of the medic working on her arm. She suddenly hisses when the pain hits her as the medic lifts the arm gently.

"Does it hurt a lot?" he tentatively asks.

She nods. It hurts like hell, she can't even form the words in her head. After a few moments of silence, the medic saves her from answering.

"It probably hurts a lot," she says softly. "She still has knife in her arm. Even though I stabilized it, the ride to the hospital won't make it any better. She should feel much better once it's removed."

Castle listens and nods, his eyes resting on Kate's face.

"Pain... painkillers?" she grits through the teeth, raising her head to look at her injury.

"No," the medic soothes her. "Once we get to the hospital, the doctors will decide if you're only gonna need meds or an operation."

Beckett nods in resignation and leans her head back against the gurney. Great. She has to suffer more. Suddenly she feels a warm hand surrounding her fingers. She looks down at her hand and sees Castle's palm cradling hers. A wave of gratefulness hits her. He's there. With her. He cares enough to be there at her side, even on her worst day.

"Thank you," she whispers.

There's a beat of silence before he answers.

"Always."

She smiles at him weakly. Damn, why does he need to be so charming? Closing her eyes for a second, she draws in a long breath.

"Everything will be alright," he mumbles, raising her good arm to bring her hand to his lips. "It will be."

"I know," she whispers. She really does. The injury seems to be serious, but she's awake and responding, so for now, that's a good sign, right?

The ambulance stops.

They've arrived at the hospital. Castle lets go of her hand when the medic starts to move around the vehicle to get Beckett ready for the transfer. Kate almost immediately feels the loss of warmth on her hand. Like something is missing. His care, his love.

Castle is ushered out and soon enough Beckett is greeted by several nurses who wheel her inside. The writer doesn't stay behind - he walks all the way to the emergency room with her, sharing details of the accident with the doctor. She loses sight of him when she is rolled to a separate room to assess her injuries.

* * *

"Do you think she's okay?" Ryan whispers to his partner who is standing next to him. They are both peeking into the hospital room that houses their boss. Their injured and heavily medicated boss.

"I don't know yet, I haven't asked," Esposito answers with a shrug.

"How long have you been here?" Ryan pokes fun at him with a smile.

"Arrived few minutes ago. Why?" the Latino answers with a deadly serious voice.

"And you haven't asked yet? Is Castle in there?" Ryan scowls.

"He's there. Seems like they are in deep conversation, I don't want to interrupt... yet," Espo points at the writer next to Beckett's bed. Kate seems to be listening to Castle intently while he is looking at the ground, searching for words.

"Ah," Ryan nods understandingly. "Let's wait a little bit."

* * *

"Castle, I'm not coming to your place," she states firmly.

"Why not?" he whines. "The doctor said you are going to need somebody to take care of you while you are recovering from this!"

"It doesn't mean I have to stay with you," she tries to object, but she already feels like she's losing the argument.

"Why can't you stay with me?" he asks quietly, looking down at his hands.

"I..." she starts to answer, but her glance slides over his features. He's serious, he's not joking about the offer of her staying at the loft.

"I … don't know," she finally confesses. It's the truth. She doesn't know anymore why she is fighting with him. After all, they have become closer over these past few days, the connection between them growing stronger and stronger. Maybe she should stay at his place, to talk things out, to enter the new territory of their relationship?

"Beckett," he finally looks at her, her loopy eyes and pale skin against the pillows of the hospital bed.

"I'm not leaving you alone," he states firmly. "You need care. These kinds of injuries are not a joke. They just removed a knife from your right arm. You were lucky that it didn't hit any major nerves or blood vessels."

"I know," she sighs.

"What is it then?" he pushes a bit. "You know I care about you. Please let me take care of you..."

"Castle..."

"I know it may be too soon for you. I promise to behave. Please?" he looks at her with his best puppy-dog eyes.

She rolls her eyes slightly and smirks at his expression. "Okay..., but …"

"Hey, no buts," he interjects.

"Castle, let me finish. I just wanted to say that we need to stop at my place before, okay?"

He nods, seemingly relieved, and breathes in a deep breath. "Okay. Thank you."

She smiles at that. "Well, you can be pretty persuasive."

His open smile widens at that and he reaches for her hand, bringing it to his mouth.

"Oh, you have no idea, Detective."

That catches her off-guard. The direct flirting. They have done this dance for years now, but never this openly. Never so publicly. She opens her mouth to answer with something equally flirtatious, but she realizes that she doesn't know what to say. He is right with regards to a lot of things. This may be too soon, the step forward in their partnership. But at the same time she needs somebody. Her whole arm will be useless for quite a few weeks. He offered. And she agreed.

They fall into a silence, Castle boring his eyes into her. Suddenly there is a knock at the door. Both of them turn their heads towards the sound to see Ryan and Esposito standing in the doorway.

"Heey," she greets them weakly. "Come in."

"How are you?" Ryan steps in first.

"I'm slightly better now that I don't have a knife in my arm anymore," she replies sarcastically, smiling at the boys.

"Good to hear," Esposito smiles back at her. Both of the detectives seem genuinely happier now when they know she feels better.

"What happened in the house?" Ryan inquires, feeling left out of the details of what exactly happened to her. He's curious. He wants to know.

Beckett looks at Castle with a confused look on her face.

"I don't exactly know," she replies. "I think Castle knows better, I wasn't awake most of the time."

Both boys turn to Castle and he is more than willing to spin a story for them.

"Well," he smiles. "When I went inside the house after you had taken down the suspect, I found her laying on the floor, knife stuck in her arm. The doctors say it's a miracle that she is in this condition. The knife somehow missed all the biggest nerves and nicked an artery only a little." The hold of his hand tightens around hers as he looks at her. "She was lucky."

"They said I can go home tomorrow," she continues, her voice weak due to exhaustion.

"That's great!" Ryan pipes up, stepping closer to her bed. "I'm really glad that you are okay."

"Did you do the interrogation?" Beckett is suddenly curious as she remembers the ongoing case.

Esposito nods. "Yeah. After we told him that he could go to prison for life for murder as well as attempted murder, he was singing like a bluebird."

"Dude, it wasn't that easy," Ryan interrupts.

"Whatever," Espo sidetracks Ryan's attempt to grab attention. "Well, we may have helped him a little bit."

"So, he confessed that he killed Kalev Järvesoo?" Castle asks out loud. When both of the boys nod he continues, "With a … a... blow dart poison?"

The detectives nod again.

"What was the motive?" Beckett finally inquires, trying to quit stalling. She wants to know what they managed to find out.

Both Espo and Ryan light up at the question.

"Ooh, that's a good one," Ryan smiles. "You want to do the honours?" he asks, looking at Esposito. Esposito holds his gaze for a second and nods.

"Well, as we found out, they story goes way back to 2008, when our victim was finishing up his studies in London. Apparently, he met a girl there. Lovely lady. Aanjay Maneni was her name. She and Kalev dated about 5 months, before the girl ditched her studies and flew back to Indonesia."

"Maneni?" Beckett is familiar with the name.

Espo nods. "Yep, you heard right. Aanjay is Alfred's little sister. Apparently, when she had returned from London, something wasn't right in her head. She was so messed up that she was committed to a mental institution. Alfred implied that Kalev had done something to his sister while she was staying in London. Some kind of weird sexual rituals, domination, cutting. He even forced her to use drugs."

"Alfred claimed that when he last spoke to his sister two years ago, he had sworn to her that he was gonna find the bastard who did this to her and finish him. Apparently, Alfred loves his sister very much," Ryan comments.

"So," Esposito continues. "Since his grandmother had been a dart-maker in the village where the Manenis grew up, he asked his grandmother to teach him the secrets of making blow dart poison - that's how he got the chemicals. They were handmade in the Javanese jungle."

"Oookay?" Beckett drawls out. "So he had this whole thing planned out? The poisoning, the blackmail?"

"Yep. Alfred hated Kalev. Passionately. For what Kalev did to his sister. But the timing was wrong, he didn't know that Kaarel was going to kill Kalev on the exact same day. The anger of the old Consulate General totally ruined Alfred's plans." Ryan muses with a little smile on his face.

"How did Kalev not recognize him?" Castle perks up, suddenly curious. "They must have met before?"

"According to Alfred, he was trying to win Kalev's trust by earning his friendship. Kalev never knew that Alfred was Aanjay's brother," Esposito offers.

"I knew that Kalev was a freak!" Castle cheers, turning the attention of all detectives onto him. "I mean... when I was looking through the files on his computer? I found folders full of disturbing pornoggraphic materiall. Remember?" he tugs Beckett's hand gleefully.

"Yes," she nods. "Well, it makes a whole a lot more sense now. Where is he now?"

"Alfred?" Ryan asks over. "He's on his way to the prison probably. We finished the paperwork on him an hour ago."

"So, the case is closed?" Castle wants to know.

"For now, yes," Espo states.

"So, in the end, we have two killers with different motives and the same victim. I'd say there's one too many killer for this kind of man," Castle jokes, making Esposito and Ryan chuckle.

"Well," Espo smiles, "at least it's over now."

"Yes," she sighs, "it is. Thank god."

Castle chuckles at that. "I have to say, this has been one of the craziest cases I have worked on with you guys..."

"Yeah," Beckett agrees. "Espo, Ryan, you did great."

"Thank you," the detectives mumble at the same time, making Kate smile. They are so adorable when they do that.

Ryan shifts his balance from one foot to another, and there is visibly something that bothers him. "Uhm," he starts tentatively. "Can I ask you guys, something?"

Beckett nods, "Sure..."

"Are you two together now?"

That question catches Beckett and the writer off-guard. Neither one of them expected the question to be that. Sure enough, Espo elbows Ryan in the ribs and hisses, "Dude!"

"Um, where did that question come from?" Castle asks when Kate only stares at Ryan, her mouth open slightly.

"I don't know, you seem like you get along better now. And you have been holding her hand the whole time we have been here," Ryan points at their joined hands.

Oh. He lets her hand go.

"Oh, no, don't stop on my account," the Irish detective apologizes. "I was just curious."

Finally Beckett opens her mouth. It has been a confusing few days with the complicated international case and Castle's actions so far - she doesn't even know where she stands anymore. Shyly, she looks at Castle, searching for his eyes.

"We... um... I don't know" she answers truthfully. She really doesn't know where they stand. They haven't had time to talk about the kiss and the silent embraces they have been sharing with each other.

Castle stares at her slack jawed. He was clearly expecting her to deny everything. But this - this gave him new hope. Just as he opens his mouth to to say something, the nurse walks into the room.

"I have to ask all of you to leave. Visiting hours are over, the patient needs her rest."

Ryan and Esposito quickly exchange good-byes with Beckett and step out of the room, leaving Castle alone with her.

"Have a good night," she mumbles weakly, her meds starting to work in her system.

"I wish I could stay here," he confesses.

"I know," she smiles, "But go home, sleep. I'll be here tomorrow."

He sighs and stands up from the chair. "Tomorrow's a new day, more hopeful maybe?"

She smiles again. Always like Castle - not so subtly indicating that he understood her hesitance before. "Yes. Let's talk tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Castle agrees and steps closer to her, bending down a bit. He kisses her forehead. "Tomorrow is a better day. When she hums sleepily in reply, he can't hold himself back and closes the distance between their lips.

"Tomorrow," he whispers when their lips part.

* * *

As Esposito is heading out of the hospital room, he glances back to find Ryan. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Castle leaning down to meet Beckett's face, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead.

He takes his hand out of his pocket and jabs Ryan's arm with quite a strong blow.

"Dude, look," he points towards the room.

Ryan turns around. "Owww, easy. What are you …." he falls silent when he sees what Esposito is seeing.

They watch as Castle shifts closer to her in the other room, his attention to Beckett's lips and leans down to capture her mouth with his. Both of the guys just stare at the couple.

"Woah," Ryan breathes out.

"I totally won the bet," Esposito mumbles, unable to turn his gaze away from the pair.

"Huh, look at that," Ryan smiles. "I think you did."

"Come on, let's go," Esposito turns around and starts walking away from the room. "I don't want to be here when they start doing something else."

Ryan chuckles and follows his partner.

* * *

**_Review? I would be extremely grateful if you would write down your thoughts :) _**


	20. Chapter 20

_**A/N: Here it is. The last one. I hope you enjoy. **_

* * *

She wakes up early. It's barely 5 am. She has never been good with sleeping in the hospital. The low light from the hall creeps into her semi-dark room and annoys her to no end. She can't sleep when it's light, she never could. Total darkness always gives the best sleep. The smell of the hospital doesn't make things any better. The distinctive odors of antibacterial cleaning solutions and meds are just disturbing. They bring back so many memories for her.

How many times has she been here, in the hospital?

Since her rookie days on the force, there have been several incidents that had her ending up in the hospital. A bullet from a spooked suspect had grazed her hip, so she needed few stitches. There were minor things as well over the years - running into a wall while chasing down a suspect, breaking her foot when she jumped down from a too-high fire escape.

But nothing she has gone through was as serious as the bullet to the chest last year.

She sighs and closes her eyes against the pillow. Last year. Yes. It was horrible. The memories of her stay at the hospital keep flooding her mind. Oh god. How she hated to be here. Hurting, alone, heartache.

A tiny tear slides down her cheek and she wipes it away with a soft move of her hand. Drawing in a shuddering breath, she tries to force away the memories. They are past now. She survived. She's okay now.

_'Kate. Stay with me, Kate. Don't leave me, please. Stay with me, okay? Kate, I love you. I love you, Kate.'_

His sobbing voice still echoes in her mind. She heard that. Yes. She heard. All of it. And she remembers all of it. She wishes, oh she wishes she would have the guts to say something to him. Say that she remembers... That she loves him, too. But she has been a chicken. The whole year. Every time she has come close to opening her mouth to spill all her secrets, something has happened. Something that ruins the pace of their evolving relationship. Every time. Fate never seems to leave them alone, always teasing and making fun of them.

She lets her mind wander. The year they have had. The explosion in the bank. Oh god, she thought he was dead when she saw the cloud of dust coming from the building. He wasn't. He survived. Like they always do - they survive.

During the sniper case, her PTSD returned. The nightmares, the panic attacks. She kept away from him. He didn't need to see the shell of her. He didn't need to see how broken she was. But somehow he did see. Somehow, he understood. And he stayed. He was her rock. Her shoulder to lean on.

Then they were cuffed together - new closeness to their friendship. Spending the whole day with him so close to her - it forced her to deal with her inner walls. To open up and realize that being open isn't so bad. It felt good to be with him. To be close to him.

Ryan's wedding. Oh, it was so beautiful. Jenny looked absolutely radiant and Kevin was just bursting with joy. She couldn't be happier to see her 'family' being happy and merry together. She was happy, and with Castle by her side, she felt safe. For the first time in years, she felt safe to lean against him during the reception and enjoy the evening together. It felt so good. So, so good. Soon, she was almost ready to tear down the walls inside her and open her soul to the possibility of happiness.

They hadn't kissed that evening, but they had come close. She backed down. He understood. He always did. That she needed time. She needed time to become a better person before there could be any chance of having a relationship. He didn't push. And she was scared enough not to do anything about it. Even though she had wanted to kiss him so much. Oh so much.

With the latest case with the CIA, she suddenly became aware of a whole different side of him. This more serious and bolder side. She knew that he was an agile man who was capable of doing anything. But this time, she noticed more of him. With Sofia returning to his life, it opened a slew of old scars within him. She saw that. The shell of a man he used to be. He wasn't that old self anymore. He was something new and better. Sophia didn't realise it, but Kate did. But also, she couldn't help but being jealous about the possibility that Sofia could claim him. Again. What would she do without him?

Now, during the case of the dead Estonian, Emily emerged in their lives, stirring the fragile balance of the relationship they had. She couldn't help it. She was jealous. Just when she felt safe to make a move. To tell him how she feels, this happened. She felt let down, Castle had let her down. She couldn't do anything but surrender to the situation. She had already given up. Stepped away, so that he could be happy with his choices.

They started yelling in a diner. Words were exchanged. She had enough and she left. To her surprise, Castle chased her down the street and kissed her, making sure that things between them would be even more complicated.

Their story has changed now. He doesn't want to wait anymore. They kiss now. They share these little embraces and pecks. It feels so utterly comfortable. She just wants to stay in his embrace, meld against him and never leave again. She feels safe. She feels loved. She feels like flying.

A little smile creeps onto her face and she can't stop it. At this moment, she realizes that she wants to be happier. More free. She needs to give them a chance. She knows that he loves her. She needs to show him her love now.

Love. Huh.

She really loves him?

She stills as the thought strikes her. She sees his face before her in her mind. The blue eyes full of fun and mischief. The smile that makes her feel happy. The little wrinkles around his eyes that tells that he's a man who laughs and smiles a lot. He's her light in the dark. He's there for her.

Yes, she does love him. She does.

Something heavy uncoils in her chest. Suddenly she feels lighter, so much better. Waves of happiness run through her body, each wave hitting her with a new and heightened feeling of joy. She's free. From her own mental jail. She broke free. Finally, she is allowing herself to be happy.

Looking out from the window, she sees the emerging new moon from behind the clouds. The weak light from it makes her eyes droop closed and she gives up her attempts to stay awake. Her breathing slows and she's lulled back to sleep.

* * *

"Hey, Castle," Beckett greets the writer as he steps into her hospital room.

He looks as handsome as ever. The light blue of his shirt goes very well with the blue of his eyes. And the dark jacket he's wearing makes him look very handsome. He had decided to go with light jeans today - making him look utterly casual and delicious. She smiles. She likes it.

"Hey, how are you?" The detective is greeted with a big smile and a cup of coffee.

"I could be better," she directs her smile at him when he gives her the cup of coffee. "Thank you, it smells delicious."

"It's your usual," he smiles too - the smiling seems to be infectious today. "Have you been released yet?"

"No, the doctor hasn't been here, yet. But they are saying he will be here soon." She waves her hand, signalling Castle to come closer and sit down. "Did you bring me my clothes?"

"Yes, they're in the bag," he shows the black messenger bag he is carrying. "Don't worry, I thought of everything. I even brought you some socks!"

"Castle," she squints her eyes. "Did you go through my underwear drawer, too?"

The slight glee from writer's face fades and he's racking his brains how to answer that question, opening his mouth once, twice.

"Castle?"

"I... uhm... I plead the fifth," he finally says with a little smirk.

"Castle, please say you didn't?" she pleads, unable to believe he really did it. By the looks of it, he discovered her drawer and had a fun time exploring it. But the writer remains silent, smiling the entire time. She continues, "I didn't give you my key so you could raid my underwear drawer, Castle."

Before Castle can say anything, a familiar form appears in the doorway.

"Miss Beckett?" her doctor asks, confused for a second.

"Yes, I'm here," she sits up, looking at the doctor.

The man steps closer to the bed, her chart in his hands. "Okay. I see you were brought in yesterday evening with a knife wound?" he makes sure that he has the facts straight.

"Yes."

"Ok," he reads the information from Kate's medical folder. "Seems that your blood tests we took earlier today came back with positive results. From what I see here, you are good to go home today. But make sure you will not be alone for few days," he states.

"The knife injured your cephalic vein and you had minor surgery to close the injured area. Also, you lost a fair amount of blood during the incident and the operation, causing a mild Class II hemorrhage. You may feel sluggish for few days. Rest is needed to recover your strength. But otherwise you are free to go," the doctor finishes up.

"Oh, that's good news," Castle exclaims, unable to stop himself.

The doctor looks at him for few seconds. "You are the boyfriend, right?"

"Uhm," Castle looks at Beckett, seeking confirmation. But she's not saying anything. Instead, she just grins and turns her gaze away from him, dreamily looking at her fingers.

"Yes?" he finally answers the doctor's question.

"She needs protein and vitamin rich food to recover. Iron supplements would be a good idea as well," he looks at Castle.

Then he scribbles something down on the prescription pad and turns back to Beckett. She's still smiling as she focuses on the man in white medical coat. "Here's the information about the food supplements. In addition, two days of bed rest is mandatory. But otherwise, you are free to go now."

"Thank you," she says to the doctor.

"Come with me," the doctor turns to Castle again. "I need you to sign some release papers before she can go."

"Ok," he nods and follows the doctor. He looks back at Beckett while he is heading out the door. She only nods and starts getting out of the bed.

Beckett uses the time he is gone to change into the clothes Castle had brought for her. She makes her way to the bathroom, yanking the hospital gown off (she hates hospital clothes). She changes the clothes as quickly as she can. Her injured hand doesn't help her one bit and she struggles to pull up the jeans. Finally, after a few painful attempts, she gets the shirt over her head. She's dressed. Good.

When she steps out of the bathroom, he's already there waiting for her. His blue eyes are fixed on her. He seems to be worried but relieved at the same time.

"There you are. Ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me get my things," she answers and gathers up her few belongings.

He takes her bag. He doesn't even ask. She decides that she is not going to argue with him. This time she lets it go. She lets him take care of her.

She nods at him, signalling that all is well, and they head out the door.

At the end of the hospital hallway, she feels something brushing against her knuckles. She looks down and sees his hand there. She opens her palm and he slides his fingers around hers, holding her hand firmly.

* * *

The elevator arrives at his floor with a low hum. The doors open with a whisper. She hasn't let go of his hand yet. They have been holding onto each other ever since they left the hospital - breaking their connection only to get in the town car and later for gathering her things from her apartment. With a silent agreement between them, their hands are joined in every possible moment.

They step out of the elevator in unison and start walking to the door of his apartment at a slow pace. Almost as if they don't want to arrive yet.

They haven't talked since the hospital. Much. Somehow, they have been keeping silent the whole time, which is a little bit surprising to Beckett. How is Castle being able to shut his mouth for few moments, let alone over an hour, it's beyond her. How does he even do that?

He stops just before they reach his door.

Confused, she halts in her tracks as well and looks at him.

"Castle?"

"Boyfriend, huh?" he voices his inner thoughts. Ah. That's what has been bothering him the whole way here. That's why he has been silent.

"Well? Aren't you?" she asks like it should be the most obvious thing ever, a smile creeping all over her face.

"Am I?" he asks, still a little bit confused. "Oh. I am?"

His confusion makes her laugh. She lets loose a giggle, unable to stop the lightness inside her. The surprised look on his face makes her laugh even more. She lets it all free. It feels so good to laugh. To be happy.

"What?" he finally asks, a smile on his face, when she finally calms down a bit.

"Castle, you signed papers for me. I would have stopped you if I hadn't agreed," she states simply.

"Oh," he breathes out. Suddenly his grin takes over his face. "Now, if I am your boyfriend," he starts, stepping closer to her. She remains in her spot. "Would that mean," he takes another step closer, sliding his one hand around her waist, "I can do this?"

He finishes the sentence and closes the distance between their mouths. Their lips meet, tentative at first. He pulls her a little bit closer to his body, careful of her injured arm between their bodies. He brings his hand from her waist to her chin, tilting it upwards. It gives him better access to her mouth and without wasting time, she opens herself to him. Letting him in. She succumbs to the feeling of his body against hers, his mouth working in unison with hers. He rolls his tongue in her mouth and brings out a sudden moan from her. It feels so good. She's lost in his touch.

Finally, he slows the kiss down and loosens his grip around her shoulder. Careful not to hurt her, he slides it back to her waist where it rests on her hip.

"Boyfriend it is, then," he whispers at last, making her smile again.

She looks up, searching his eyes. His gaze finds hers and their eyes lock, just watching each other. After a few seconds of silence, she opens her mouth and whispers, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For everything."

He doesn't answer, just smiles. Entangling himself from her, he takes a step back. Unable to let go of her, he curls her hand in his and pulls her closer to the door of his loft.

"Come," he whispers. "They are waiting."

She nods. His family is waiting for them. For them to return home.

* * *

**Final chapter. I have to say, I haven't ever written that long of a fic before. Never. I would have never written this kind of fic either if there wasn't my friend Brett who challenged me to write case-based fiction. It was new idea. And he helped me a lot during writing. For you who doesn't know, he was the one who came up with the idea of the fic. Together we ironed out the details and started writing. Almost all the Ryan/Espo scenes are his (he writes them so awesome). I really loved writing this with you, Brett. And I hope I inspired you to write your own fictions as well. Thank you Brett!**

**I'd like to thank kimmiesjoy, lv2bnsb1, PenguinOfTroy, fooxoo, Shena, Nicky & Syzygy - my grammar police army over the 9 months I have been writing this fiction. Thank you. I could have not done it without you guys. **

**Also, thank you all who has been reviewing this fic. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your words mean so much to me and to Brett too. **

_**Now. Could I have your last thoughts about the last chapter please? He he he.**_

**Thank you all! It was a great ride. **


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